Washington
Act Daily News
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The Biden administration is getting ready to ask Congress to approve the sale of 40 F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, after weighing a Turkish request for the planes for greater than a yr, congressional sources accustomed to the deliberations instructed Act Daily News.
If accepted, the sale can be among the many largest arms gross sales in years. The administration can be discussing a separate sale of 40 F-35 warplanes to Greece. There are longstanding tensions between Turkey and Greece.
Turkey was faraway from the F-35 program in 2019 in response to Ankara’s determination to buy the Russian-made S-400 missile system.
The sale to Turkey might put stress on Ankara to approve the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO, a course of that Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been blocking since final yr.
Finland and Sweden have been formally invited to hitch the alliance on the NATO summit in June final yr, however as a NATO member Turkey might block them from becoming a member of.
A Finnish official instructed Act Daily News that Finland has “not been part of any discussions” in the case of the American F-16s.
“Finland has implemented everything that was agreed in Madrid in June. Now we hope all NATO members help us get our accession process over the finishing line. What comes to American F-16s, we obviously have not been part of any discussions. It is an internal US matter,” the Finnish official mentioned.
It just isn’t clear when the administration plans to make a proper request to Congress, as required by legislation for international navy gross sales. But on Thursday night time, the administration despatched casual notifications in regards to the potential sale to the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations committees, kicking off the committee evaluation course of, the sources mentioned.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the news.
Most administrations usually give Congress casual notification of proposed gross sales weeks earlier than taking formal motion. The casual notification course of is a typical apply during which the related committees get a heads up on deliberate gross sales, permitting committee management to boost issues, give their enter, or place holds.
Once the administration formally notifies the complete Congress of the supposed sale, lawmakers then have 30 days to dam the deal, which they will do by passing a joint decision of disapproval.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez mentioned on Friday that he wouldn’t approve any proposed sale of F-16 plane to Turkey, persevering with his longstanding opposition to offering the weaponry to Ankara.
“As I have repeatedly made clear, I strongly oppose the Biden administration’s proposed sale of new F-16 aircraft to Turkey,” the New Jersey Democrat mentioned. “President Erdogan continues to undermine international law, disregard human rights and democratic norms, and engage in alarming and destabilizing behavior in Turkey and against neighboring NATO allies.”
Menendez has been extremely crucial of Turkey’s focusing on of the Kurds and threatened incursions into northern Syria. He has slammed Ankara’s closeness with Moscow and warned the Turks towards buying any extra S-400 missile programs from Russia. Additionally, Menendez has accused Turkey of repeatedly violating Greek airspace with provocative overflights within the Aegean Sea, calling it “unacceptable behavior from a NATO country” in remarks in Athens final yr.
“Until Erdogan ceases his threats, improves his human rights record at home – including by releasing journalists and political opposition – and begins to act like a trusted ally should, I will not approve this sale,” Menendez mentioned.
At the identical time, the New Jersey Democrat mentioned he welcomed “the news of the sale of new F-35 fighter aircraft to Greece.”
“This defense capability is not only critical for a trusted NATO ally and enduring partner’s efforts to advance security and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean, but also strengthens our two nations’ abilities to defend shared principles including our collective defense, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law,” he mentioned Friday.
A National Security Council spokesperson referred Act Daily News to the State Department for remark.
“As a matter of policy, the Department is not going to comment on proposed defense sales or transfers until they’ve been formally notified to Congress,” State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel mentioned at a briefing Friday.
“But what I would say is that Turkey and Greece both are vital, vital, NATO Allies,” he added, noting that the US has “a history of supporting their security apparatuses.”