President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he urged U.S. President Joe Biden not to link the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye with Sweden’s NATO bid, during a pull-aside meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in India over the weekend.
On the sidelines of the two-day summit, Erdoğan had bilateral talks with a number of world leaders, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Germany, Brazil and India as well as EU Council President Charles Michel. Erdoğan’s meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fettah al-Sisi came after the two countries exchanged ambassadors for the full normalization of the bilateral ties. […]
”But, unfortunately, when we discuss the F-16s, our friends tie this issue with Sweden. This approach is saddening us. When we hear this, we have just one answer, ’If you have your Congress, we also have one: The Turkish parliament,'” Erdoğan said.
”It’s not right to link the F-16s sale to Sweden,” Erdoğan also said. Sweden wants to join the NATO, but its deficiencies in the fight against anti-Türkiye terror organizations stand as a barrier for the required legislative approval of the Turkish parliament. The U.S, however, insists that a congressional approval for the F-16s to Türkiye is very much linked with the ratification of Sweden.
“It is not possible for me to say ‘yes’ to Sweden if such an approval is not given by the Turkish parliament. I am not in a position to give this decision on my own. And Sweden has to fulfill its obligations. Otherwise, I will have to wait for the decision to be given by the parliament,” Erdoğan stated.
Türkiye said it will approve Sweden’s bid to join the NATO after Stockholm submits its roadmap on the fight against terrorism, after a trilateral meeting between the leaders of Türkiye, Sweden and NATO. Läs artikel