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full screen The White House has urged Congress to approve the sale of US fighter jets to Turkey. Archive image. Photo: Pavel Golovkin/AP/TT
President Joe Biden’s staff has sent a letter to US congressmen urging them to approve the sale of the F-16 fighter jet to Turkey, four sources told Reuters.
Turkey has repeatedly linked a possible NATO entry for Sweden with the purchase of new and updated modern F-16 planes from the United States. The US Congress has not yet approved the deal.
The deal is said to be worth 20 billion dollars, equivalent to 209 billion kroner, according to the sources.
Turkey’s parliament voted yes to Swedish NATO entry on Tuesday, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan now has two weeks to formally sign the document. Then everything is clear from the Turkish side.
In order for Sweden to become a full member of the defense alliance, it is also necessary that Hungary’s parliament ratifies the application. But no date for that has yet been decided.