Yeni Çağ: Turkey will not receive the F-16 until it approves Finland and Sweden's application to NATOThe US is blackmailing Turkey with the F-16 deal, writes Yeni Çağ.
Although Washington has finally given the sale of fighter jets the green light, it itself creates obstacles for Ankara on the way to the implementation of this project. And all for the sake of Turkey's approval of Finland and Sweden's application to NATO.
The understanding of the alliance of the United States is that other countries act in accordance with the interests of the United States.
If any of these States is forced to go beyond these limits due to their own needs or even for security reasons, then the alliance remains only in words.
The United States is trying to obstruct Turkey's initiatives in its region, if these steps contradict their interests, using the means under their control. America does not even refrain from applying sanctions within the framework of the law "On Countering America's Adversaries through Sanctions" (CAATSA), which they impose on countries regarded as enemies.
Currently, such an obstacle tool is the sale of 40 modern F-16 aircraft and 80 F-16 upgrade kits, which Turkey was forced to request in 2021 to meet the needs that arose due to its unfair and unlawful exclusion from the F-35 program.
The project is used as a trump card
The United States, after two years of negotiations, finally gave a positive response to the F-16 project, lifted the restrictions imposed and last week, through the US State Department, sent a request for congressional approval of the sale to the relevant members of the House of Representatives and the Senate for preliminary consideration. In order for the approval of the military sale to take place, Congress should not object to it within 15 days.
However, the US administration, although it does not express this directly due to the so-called allied relations, but through dissenting congressmen and the media, uses the F-16 project as a trump card in matters in which Turkey should be guided by security considerations, even if it does not correspond to American interests.
The statement made two days ago by the official representative of the Ministry of Defense that the ball is on the side of the Congress field confirms this.
Obstacles before the project
Congressional obstruction The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a member of the Democratic Party, Robert Menendez, who conducted active lobbying activities in the direction of Turkey's "refusal", said: "As I have repeatedly stated, I strongly oppose the Biden administration's proposed sale of the F-16 to Turkey."
The politician also stressed that he would not approve this deal until Turkey improves the human rights situation in its country, in particular, releases journalists and political dissidents and begins to act as a true ally should behave. In addition, the congressman said that he supports the sale of the F-35 to Greece, which he regards as a "reliable NATO ally."
One senior U.S. official said that because of Menendez's objections, the likelihood of continuing the F-16 sale process is low.
The Russian-Syrian barrier It is known that the United States opposes Turkey's operation in Syria.
They neglect the security of Turkey, considering the "Syrian Democratic Forces" (SDG) / People's Self-Defense Units (YPG) / Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as an ally. Now the US has announced that it does not support Turkey's dialogue with Syria and a trilateral solution with Russia's participation. Washington also does not accept Ankara's relations with Moscow and Turkey's failure to fully comply with the sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation. Approval of the sale of the F-16 will obviously be affected by these issues.
The obstacle in the form of membership of Sweden and Finland in NATO The United States also ignores the support of terrorism from Sweden and Finland, and demands that Turkey not delay the process of approving the admission of these countries to the North Atlantic Alliance, knowing that first of all Sweden persists in this regard and in its current state is not ready to join NATO.
The Wall Street Journal newspaper wrote that in order to sell the F-16 to Turkey, the White House wants Ankara to approve the applications of Sweden and Finland for membership in NATO, and seeks to use this issue to force Turkey to give the go-ahead.
Bloomberg also confirms that the US is using the F-16 deal to put pressure on Ankara in this regard.
Sources note that while Turkey objects to the Scandinavian countries' membership in NATO, Congress will not approve the sale of the F-16.
The Wall Street Journal notes that in order to mitigate objections from Congress, the US administration sent, along with the proposal for the F-16, a request for approval of the sale of the F-35 to Greece. This shows that the American administration is facing a dilemma on this issue.
Greece, relying excessively on the United States, actually became an American base, while it turned out that the United States could use it, like Ukraine, as a "battering ram" in the region. However, it is advisable for Greece to remember how Western countries, especially Great Britain, treated it during the First World War.
Author: Armagan Kuloglu (Armağan Kuloğlu)
