The US is currently preparing a sale of the F16 fighter jet to Turkey. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal, among others, two weeks ago. There has been speculation that a deal between Washington and Ankara could act as a carrot for Turkey to approve Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO applications.
The letter published in its entirety
But now more and more voices are being raised to turn the deal into a whip instead. As long as Turkey does not allow the Nordic countries in, the United States should not sell fighter jets to Turkey either, write 29 senators in a letter to the American president.
Reuters journalist Hümeyra Pamuk has published the letter in its entirety on Twitter.
The senators, who belong to both the Democratic and Republican parties, write that Turkey’s reluctance to ratify Sweden’s and Finland’s application threatens the military alliance NATO at a crucial historical moment.
“Once Turkey has ratified the NATO Accession Protocol, Congress can consider the sale of F16 fighter jets. If, on the other hand, this does not happen, the ongoing sale should be called into question.” they write, among other things.
“Hard to believe Biden can ignore the letter”
SVT’s US correspondent Fouad Youcefi says this about the letter:
“It is an important signal from both Republicans and Democrats that they care about welcoming Sweden and Finland into NATO. Congress has great power over major arms deals in the United States and I find it hard to believe that Joe Biden can ignore this letter.”