On Sales Of F-16 Combat Jets To Turkey, The US Congress Calls Depending On NATO Membership Approval

JAKARTA - The United States Congress was unable to support sales of US$20 billion worth of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey until Ankara ratified access to Sweden and Finland NATO membership, a bipartisan senator group said.

Sweden and Finland signed up last year to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after Russia invaded Ukraine, but faced unexpected objections from Turkey and have since sought to gain support.

It is known that Ankara wants Helsinki and Stockholm in particular to take tougher action against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is considered a terror group by Turkey and the European Union, and other groups blamed for the 2016 coup attempt.

The three countries reached an agreement in Madrid last June, but Ankara suspended talks last month, following protests in Stockholm with a Danish far-right politician burning a copy of the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an.

In a letter to President Joe Biden, 29 Democratic and Republican senators said the two Nordic countries were making "full efforts and good faith" to meet Turkey's requested NATO membership requirements, although Ankara said Sweden needed to do more.

"Once the NATO accession protocol is ratified by Turkey, Congress can consider selling F-16 fighter jets. The failure to do so, however, will question this delayed sale," the senators wrote.

This is the first time Congress has explicitly and directly linked the sale of the F-16 to Turkey with an offer of NATO access from two Nordic countries.

President Joe Biden's administration has repeatedly said it supports sales, refusing to link the two issues, although it recognizes that the NATO access ratification of Sweden and Finland will facilitate the sales process in Congress.

Turkey said it could approve Finland's NATO membership app before Sweden, but Finland's president and foreign ministers have both rejected this idea, arguing that the security of the two Nordic countries relies on each other.

Of the 30 NATO members, only Turkey and Hungary have not ratified the membership of Nordic countries.

Separately, during a visit to Washington last month, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said NATO issues should not be a prerequisite for the sale, urging President Biden's Administration to persuade Congress to drop its objections.

While Congress could block foreign arms sales, Congress had not previously raised the two-thirds majority in the House and the Senate needed to address the president's veto rights.