Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Türkiye expects the U.S. to approve the sale of F-16 fighter jets, noting that the purchase is in line with the "joint strategic interests" of both countries.
Çavuşoğlu was speaking in Washington, where he was welcomed by his U.S. counterpart, Antony Blinken.
"As we said together before, this is not only for Türkiye but also important for NATO and for the United States as well," Çavuşoğlu said, adding that Ankara expects Washington's approval, in line with joint strategic interests of both countries.
The Biden administration has expressed its support for the sale of the jets to Türkiye, despite opposition from the U.S. Congress.
Speaking to reporters at the Turkish Embassy after a meeting with Blinken at the State Department, Çavuşoğlu said the U.S. side has not provided a date on when they would send a formal notification to Congress for the F-16 sale.
He highlighted that Türkiye's request to purchase F-16 jets and Sweden, Finland's NATO bids are not related, as he added that the U.S. Congress should not consider these as related.
"The U.S. side said developments regarding Sweden and Finland's NATO bids may have a positive impact on F-16 sale but they also said the two issues are not completely interconnected," he told reporters.
The two Nordic states applied for NATO membership last year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine but their bids need approval from all 30 NATO member states. Türkiye and Hungary have yet to endorse the applications.
Türkiye raised objections, expressing concern that the countries harbor terrorist groups. It said Sweden in particular must first take a clearer stance against these groups, mainly the YPG/PKK terrorists and the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which was behind the 2016 coup attempt.
Erdoğan said on Monday the two countries had to deport or extradite up to 130 "terrorists" to Türkiye before parliament would approve their requests to join NATO.
On Tuesday, Finland said it hoped the Turkish minister's trip to the United States this week would help clear the way for it and Sweden to join the alliance.
Ties between the United States and Türkiye have been strained since Türkiye acquired Russian missile defense systems in 2019.
The United States has praised Çavuşoğlu for some of its actions during the Ukraine war, including mediating grain corridor talks.
The countries are also at odds over Türkiye's plans for a cross-border counterterrorism operation into Syria and its intent to normalize ties with Damascus. For its part, Türkiye demands Washington does not support the YPG terrorists, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.
Tensions between Turkey and fellow NATO ally Greece over the Aegean Sea have also negatively impacted the sentiment in the U.S. Congress toward Ankara.
Last week, the State Department informally notified the committees overseeing arms sales in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives of its intention to proceed with the sale.
On Saturday, Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalın said Washington's demands relating to the supply of the fighter jets were "endless."
He added he hoped the F-16 deal would not become "hostage" to the NATO memberships of Sweden and Finland.
While Congress can block foreign arms sales it has not previously mustered the two-thirds majorities in both chambers required to overcome a presidential veto.
NATO member Türkiye has been seeking to modernize its existing warplanes to update its air force and sought to buy 40 Lockheed Martin F-16 jets and nearly 80 modernization kits from the U.S.
The sale would be simultaneous with a deal for top-of-the-line F-35 jets for Greece, Türkiye's historic rival with which tensions have risen sharply over a series of sea disputes.
President Joe Biden has indicated support for selling F-16s to Turkey. But Senator Bob Menendez, a member of Biden's Democratic Party who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has vowed to block any sale.
Türkiye was kicked out of the F-35 program after a major arms purchase from Russia, the key adversary of NATO.
The U.S. argued that the system could be used by Russia to covertly obtain classified details on the Lockheed Martin F-35 jets and is incompatible with NATO systems. Türkiye, however, insisted that the S-400 would not be integrated into NATO systems and would not pose a threat to the alliance.
Çavuşoğlu also criticized the U.S. for losing its policy of balance regarding ongoing tensions between Türkiye and Greece.
"We see that the U.S.' policy of balance regarding relations with Greece has deteriorated in practice. We reminded Washington that it should adopt a more balanced stance and reminded them of Greece's ongoing provocations," he said.
Türkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, has complained of repeated provocative actions and rhetoric by Greece in the region in recent months, including arming islands near Turkish shores that are demilitarized under treaties, saying that such moves frustrate its good faith efforts for peace.
Türkiye and Greece are at odds over a number of issues, including competing claims over jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean, overlapping claims over their continental shelves, maritime boundaries, airspace, energy, the ethnically split island of Cyprus, the status of the islands in the Aegean Sea and migrants.
Ankara accuses Athens of illegally militarizing Greek islands in the East Aegean and questions Greece’s sovereignty over them. There is also a dispute over the exploitation of mineral resources in the Aegean.
Since the beginning of 2022, Greek warplanes have violated Turkish airspace 256 times and harassed Turkish jets on 158 occasions, and Greek coast guard boats also violated Turkish territorial waters 33 times.
Turkish jets on a reconnaissance mission, flying in international airspace, had also been harassed by a Greek defense system stationed on Crete.
The Biden administration hailed "constructive" relations with Türkiye as the top diplomats met in Washington
"We have a very constructive relationship with Turkey. We are grateful for the role that Turkey has played in helping to address many of the most pressing challenges of our time," department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters.
Asked to enumerate which global challenges Ankara has been of particular assistance in addressing, Price pointed to Türkiye's key role in aiding Ukraine generally and its assistance in brokering a key deal that facilitated Ukrainian grain to leave Black Sea ports for the first time since Russia began its war.
"It is probably not an exaggeration to say that without Turkey's constructive role, we would not have the Black Sea Grain Initiative, certainly not the grain initiative that is functioning at the scope and scale that it is now," he said.
"That is now we've consistently said that we are grateful for Turkey's role in that we're also appreciative of the fact that President (Recep Tayyip) Erdoğan and his government have used their somewhat unique position to seek to address Russia's war against Ukraine," he added, referring to the Turkish leader.
The two sides released a joint statement following the meeting of the Türkiye-U.S. Strategic Mechanism attended by Çavuşoğlu, Blinken and other officials from both countries. The statement highlighted that they conducted "an extensive dialogue on a broad range of areas of bilateral cooperation and emphasized the significance of partnership as NATO Allies."
"Çavuşoğlu and Blinken built on the partnership and interagency discussions and reiterated their commitment to a concrete and results-oriented positive bilateral agenda. They discussed strengthening the Türkiye-U.S. defense partnership, including the modernization of Türkiye’s F-16 fleet. They underlined their unequivocal support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity against Russia’s unacceptable war and reaffirmed their support to find a solution to end the war. The United States thanked Türkiye for its role in brokering the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the two sides planned on the need for this life-saving mechanism to operate at the pace required to meet global demand for grain."
The statement said Çavuşoğlu and Blinken decided to increase coordination and cooperation to advance peace in the South Caucasus. It also said that the minister and secretary of state discussed ways to bolster NATO coordination and solidarity in the face of current threats and challenges. "They reaffirmed their long-standing commitment to collective defense as Allies, as well as to NATO’s Open Door Policy. They discussed the implementation of the trilateral memorandum signed by Finland, Sweden, and Türkiye to advance Finland and Sweden’s application to join the NATO Alliance," it said.
They also agreed on the importance of preserving stability and channels for communication regarding the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, according to the statement.
On counterterrorism, the sides plan to hold consultations as part of the Strategic Mechanism, building upon preexisting cooperation through law enforcement and information sharing, the statement said. "The Secretary condemned once again November 13, 2022, terrorist attack in Istanbul and affirmed the United States stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Türkiye in its fight against terrorism. Both sides planned to maintain close coordination and collaboration in the efforts to fight against terrorist organizations, notably ISIS/Daesh and the PKK," it said.
The sides also discussed the Syrian crisis and reiterated the commitment of Türkiye and the United States to a Syrian-led political process in accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254. "They welcomed the recent U.N. Security Council vote to extend the cross-border delivery of humanitarian assistance into Syria. The two sides also addressed broader issues in the Middle East and Africa, including the need to build regional stability and connections through increased economic and security cooperation," the statement said.
"Minister Çavuşoğlu and Secretary Blinken appreciated the continuous growth in Türkiye-U.S. bilateral trade relations. They reaffirmed the importance of economic cooperation and building upon existing bilateral fora to support regional and global economic opportunities. Both sides endorsed a Climate and Energy Dialogue to advance energy security and the transition toward a cleaner energy future," it also said.
