The F-16 fighter jet is a new point of contention between Washington and Ankara
After the Russian missiles and the issues of Syria and human rights, the F-16 fighter could become a new point of contention between the United States and Turkey, both allies within NATO.
After the failed S-400 deal, Turkey's purchase of a Russian anti-missile system that led to the United States announcing in 2019 its removal from the advanced F-35 program, Ankara has long hoped the United States would change its mind.
But President Joe Biden did not back down from the decisions of his predecessor, Donald Trump, in this regard because the US military considers the Russian S-400 monitoring system a threat to the F-35, the highly advanced stealth fighter designed to evade the most advanced radars.
And the US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) revealed on Wednesday that the completion of the process of excluding Ankara from the F-35 manufacturing program, which was to grant Turkey the manufacture of 900 parts of the most expensive aircraft in history, took place on September 23.
Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Anton Semmelroth said the two countries were now seeking to "settle the dispute" over the F-35.
In other words, Ankara was compensated for the amount of 1.4 billion dollars paid for the F-35 and was never delivered by Washington.
A Pentagon delegation held "productive" talks in Ankara on Wednesday ahead of new negotiations in the coming months, and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged the "needs to modernize the Turkish military" during a phone call Thursday with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar, according to the Pentagon.
The issue of F-16 will also be on the agenda of a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the International Climate Summit next week in Glasgow.
According to the Turkish press, Erdogan wants to acquire 40 F-16 combat aircraft and about 80 modernization rates for this old aircraft, of which the Turkish army has more than 200 models.
The US State Department, which is negotiating arms sales abroad, has implicitly confirmed that it has received a formal purchase order from the Turkish government.
"The department does not confirm or comment on arms sales projects as long as they have not been reported to Congress," a State Department spokesman told AFP.
But "Turkish officials have publicly indicated their interest in purchasing the F-16," he added.
But this request is unlikely to produce results in the face of possible congressional opposition.
"We cannot allow our national security to be threatened by sending American aircraft to an ally that continues to act as an adversary," 11 Republicans and Democrats wrote this week in an open letter to President Biden.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news