US approves sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey

After months of negotiations, the US government approved a deal to sell F-16 warplanes to Turkey worth $23 billion after Ankara ratified Sweden's NATO membership, AFP reported.
As required by US law, the State Department notified Congress of the agreement, as well as a separate $8.6 billion sale of 40 F-35s to Greece
Turkey will receive 40 new F-16s and upgrades to 79 of the fighters in its existing fleet, the State Department announced.
The United States did not green light the deal until Turkey ratified Sweden's NATO membership, a US official said, underscoring the highly sensitive nature of the talks.
Turkey's parliament ratified Stockholm's membership of the North Atlantic alliance on January 23 after more than a year of delays that hurt Western efforts to show resolve amid Russia's war in Ukraine.
Turkish President Recep Erdogan initially opposed Sweden's bid for NATO membership because of Stockholm's alleged acceptance of Kurdish groups that Ankara considers "terrorist".
In response, Sweden tightened its anti-terror laws and took other security measures requested by Erdogan.
But Erdogan then turned to the broken US promise to deliver a batch of F-16 fighter jets, which has faced opposition in Congress because of Turkey's perceived backsliding on human rights and standoff with NATO member Greece.
The influential chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democrat Ben Cardin, said he would allow the sale of the F-16s to Turkey, but that it was not a decision he came to lightly.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in Turkey during two visits in the past three months that ratifying the Swedish bid could help overcome congressional opposition to the F-16 sale.
Meanwhile, Athens strongly opposed the deal due to unresolved territorial disputes with Turkey in the Mediterranean region.
The US deal with Turkey first hinged on Athens not blocking the sale, for which it would get access to more F-35s, the US source said.
Turkey's green light for Swedish NATO membership leaves Hungary as the latest participant in the accession process that Sweden and Finland began in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago.
On January 23, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán invited his Swedish counterpart to Budapest to discuss the situation.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson said he would meet Orbán but that he "will not negotiate" with Hungary over Stockholm's NATO bid.
In Washington, they believe that the process will take several more weeks, hoping for a flag-raising ceremony during the next NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels in April./BGNES