Summary:
-
Menendez blasts Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for continuing to “undermine international law, disregard human rights, and engage in alarming and destabilizing behavior in Turkey and against neighbouring NATO allies,” saying, “I strongly oppose the Biden administration’s proposed sale of new F-16 aircraft to Turkey.
-
“A person who knows about the situation says that Menendez told the White House in December that he would not support the large transfer.
-
A State Department spokeswoman said they don’t discuss possible military sales until Congress is told about them.
-
The House enacted a provision to restrict F-16 sales to Turkey in defense legislation last summer.
-
Since formally submitting their applications in May last year, Sweden and Finland have been awaiting approval to join the NATO alliance.
However, the senator claimed he hasn’t changed his mind in a statement Menendez’s staff prepared for the media and that POLITICO was able to get in advance.
Menendez criticizes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for continuing to “undermine international law, disregard human rights, and engage in alarming and destabilizing behavior in Turkey and against neighboring NATO allies.” He says, “I strongly oppose the Biden administration’s proposed sale of new F-16 aircraft to Turkey.”
The chair added that he supported the F-35 sale to Greece and said, “I will not accept this sale until Erdogan quits his threats, improves his human rights record at home, especially by releasing journalists and political opponents, and begins to act as a trusted ally should.”
A person who knows about the situation says that Menendez told the White House in December that he would not support the large transfer.
A State Department spokeswoman said they don’t discuss possible military sales until Congress is told about them.
The Wall Street Journal says that fighter planes would only be sold if Turkey let Sweden and Finland join NATO, which Ankara has been against since Sweden and Finland asked to join last year. No one knows if Menendez would stop being against the agreement if Turkey cleared the way for them to join.
Another person who knows about the possible sale said lawmakers and the State Department discussed it this week. Still, no official decision has been made about telling Congress that the administration plans to move forward.
Some of the most potent senators from Biden’s party are worried about giving fighter jets to Turkey. They are concerned about Turkey’s slow growth in NATO, its violations of Greek airspace, and its moves toward becoming a dictatorship.
In the defense bill that the House passed last summer, there was a clause that said F-16s couldn’t be sold to Turkey. This provision was supported mainly by Democrats. The clause was removed from the compromise legislation, eventually reaching Biden’s desk.
Even though the Senate didn’t come up with its own rule, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and others tried to stop Turkey from buying fighters.
Sweden and Finland have been waiting for approval to join NATO since they sent their applications in May last year. Turkey has objected to that entry, citing Sweden’s refusal to extradite four people it claims were involved in the failed coup attempt in 2016, as well as the fact that Sweden was housing Kurds it suspected of being terrorists.
Since Washington kicked Ankara out of the global F-35 program in 2019 for buying an air defense system made by Russia, Turkey has been looking to the US for other fighter planes.
