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| Turkey Will Cancel Purchase of F-16 Fighter Jets From the US |
Ankara - Turkey is likely to reverse its decision to buy F-16 fighter jets from the United States (US) due to prices and other, more modern options available. Turkish Presidential Foreign Policy and Security Council member Cagri Erhan said this during an interview with Sputnik.
In late February, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US could not sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkey without approval from Congress, meaning his concerns about Greece's position and Sweden's and Finland's NATO offers needed to be addressed.
"I'm sure after the earthquake, Turkey will stop asking for F-16s because it's a $20 billion package," Erhan said. He believes the Turkish government made a mistake by requesting the F-16s, which Congress is still refusing to provide for "certain reasons" and which are outdated and unable to compete with other jets.
“Turkey must make a decision urgently to change its decision from the F-16 to something else. For example the F-35 is on the table. Turkey expects from the program (to get the F-35). Now we have other options such as Chinese jets sold to Pakistan, Russian jets and also Eurofighter jets," said Erhan.
On Jan. 18, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara hoped to overcome difficulties on the F-16 with Washington. He noted that the purchase was in line with the common strategic interests of the two countries.
In April 2021, the US excluded Turkey from the F-35 program after Ankara purchased the Russian S-400 air defense system. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said later that year that Turkey had accepted a US offer to buy F-16 jets instead, one generation behind the F-35.
The US Congress has been debating whether to include curbs on jet sales in its annual defense spending budget for fiscal 2023, while the US State Department has been trying to convince lawmakers that the deal is in Washington's interests.