President Biden sent a letter to four senior members of Congress on Wednesday urging them to quickly approve a $20 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, following the vote one day earlier by Turkey’s Parliament to allow Sweden to join NATO, The New York Times reports.
The White House sent the letter to the top Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which have oversight of arms transfers by the State Department to other nations.
As of Wednesday night, the four senior lawmakers had not given their approval, and one or more of them might ask the Biden administration to give assurances about Turkey’s actions on some foreign policy issues before agreeing to the transfer, a congressional official told the Times.
Turkey’s Parliament ratified Sweden’s NATO membership bid on Tuesday, clearing a major hurdle to expand the Western military alliance after twenty months of delay.
Reuters says Turkey’s delay in approving the ratification had been a major obstacle to winning congressional approval for the fighter jet deal. Lawmakers had said they were awaiting Turkey’s approval of Sweden’s NATO membership, including President Tayyip Erdogan’s signature, before deciding whether to approve the sale.
Furthermore, the US State Department urged Ankara on Wednesday to formally finalize Sweden’s NATO ratification. To do so, Erdogan needs to sign the legislation, which then would be published in Turkey’s Official Gazette. The instrument of accession for Sweden also needs to be sent to Washington.
The State Department declined to provide an exact timeline on the formal notification process for the F-16 sale.
Biden has been in favor of modernizing Turkey’s F-16 fleet
“President Biden, Secretary Blinken have been very clear of our support for modernizing Turkey’s F-16 fleet, which we view as a key investment in NATO interoperability,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a news briefing, referring to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “But beyond that…I’m just not going to confirm or get ahead of proposed defense sales or transfers until they are formally notified to Congress.”
In October 2021, Turkey asked to purchase twenty billion dollars worth of Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters and nearly eighty modernization kits for its existing warplanes.
Leaders of the US Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees review every major foreign arms sale. They regularly ask questions or raise concerns over human rights or diplomatic issues that can delay or stop such deals.
Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, cast some doubt on a speedy approval, saying lawmakers need assurances from the Biden administration and Turkey first.
“For much of the time President Erdogan has been in office, Turkey has been an unfaithful NATO ally—so this is welcome news,” Van Hollen said.
“That said, I still have questions about Erdogan’s ongoing attacks against our Syrian Kurdish allies, his aggressive actions in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the role he played in supporting Azerbaijan’s military assaults against Nagorno-Karabakh,” Van Hollen told Reuters.
Sweden and Finland applied to enter NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. While Finnish membership was sealed last year, Sweden’s bid had been held up by Turkey and Hungary.
All NATO members need to approve applications from countries seeking to join the alliance. When Sweden and Finland asked to join, Turkey raised objections over what it said was the two countries’ protection of groups it deems as terrorists.
Related: US Plan to Sell F-16s to Turkey and F-35s to Greece Alarms Ankara
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