WASHINGTON — (AP) — The Biden administration approved the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey following the Ratification by the Turkish government this week of Sweden’s accession to NATO. This decision represents an important step in the expansion of the alliance, which has taken on increased importance since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The State Department notified Congress Friday evening of its approval of the $23 billion sale of F-16s to Turkey, as well as a concurrent $8.6 billion sale of advanced F-16 fighter jets. -35 to Greece. The move comes just hours after Turkey deposited its “instrument of ratification” for Sweden’s NATO membership with Washington, which is the depositary of the alliance’s documents, and after several key members of Congress have lifted their objections.
The sale to Turkey includes 40 new F-16s and equipment to upgrade 79 of its existing F-16 fleet. The sale to Greece includes 40 F-35 Lightning II joint fighters and related equipment.
Those objections, including those from the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senators Ben Cardin, Democrat of Maryland, and Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho, have now been overcome, officials said.
NATO ally Turkey has long sought to modernize its F-16 fleet and has made its ratification of Sweden’s membership conditional on approving the sale of the new planes. The Biden administration had supported the sale, but several lawmakers had expressed objections due to human rights concerns.
Cardin said in a statement Friday that he still had concerns about Turkey’s rights record, but agreed to the sale based on commitments Turkey made to improve it. “I look forward to opening this new chapter in our relationship with Turkey, expanding the NATO alliance and working with our global allies to resist ongoing Russian aggression against its peaceful neighbors,” did he declare.
Turkey delayed its approval of Sweden’s NATO membership for more than a year, apparently because it felt Sweden was not taking Turkey’s national security concerns seriously enough, including its fight against Kurdish militants and other groups that Ankara views as security threats.
The delays had frustrated the United States, and other NATO alliesalmost all of which quickly accepted Sweden and Finland into the alliance after the Nordic states abandoned their long-standing military neutrality following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Sweden’s formal membership in NATO now depends on Hungary, which is the last NATO ally not to have approved its membership. U.S. and NATO officials said they expected Hungary to act quickly, especially after Turkey’s decision.
