United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken is hosting Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Washington for a meeting expected to be dominated by a potential sale of F-16 fighter jets and Turkey’s refusal to approve Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
Wednesday’s meeting marked the first official visit by Turkey’s top diplomat since US President Joe Biden took office nearly two years ago – something observers say could reflect the strained relationship between the two countries. Blinken and Çavuşoğlu have met before on the sidelines of NATO summits and UN meetings.
“We are close allies and partners,” Blinken said at the start of the meeting, “that doesn’t mean we don’t have differences, but when we have differences, precisely because we are allies and partners, we work on them. “
Before the meeting, representatives of the US and Turkey said that the main topics would be the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Syria and energy cooperation.
The US has praised Turkey for some of its actions since the Russian invasion, notably brokering the Grain Corridor talks.
However, concerns about Ankara’s deepening relationship with Moscow persist. Ties between the NATO allies have been strained since Turkey acquired Russian missile defense systems in 2019, leading to Ankara’s removal from the next-generation F-35 fighter jet program.
Turkey is now hoping to buy F-16 jets from the US, a sale that some senior members of Congress oppose despite the support of the Biden administration.
Speaking at the start of the meeting, Çavuşoğlu mentioned the possible sale, saying: “We expect approval in line with our common strategic interest.”
The Turkish official said the duo would also discuss “how we can strengthen our … cooperation in our fight against terrorism,” while directly mentioning ISIS and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, both groups that Ankara sees as threats beyond its southern border with Syria.
US officials are increasingly concerned about Turkey’s possible aim to launch a new cross-border military operation against Kurdish armed groups, as well as its intention to normalize ties with Damascus.
Meanwhile, Turkey was the main obstacle to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, which requires the approval of all 30 member states. Turkey and Hungary have not yet approved the applications.
Turkey has accused the countries of harboring Kurdish groups it considers “terrorists”. It said Sweden, in particular, must first take a clearer stance against these groups, as well as those it blames for the 2016 coup attempt.
Erdogan said on Monday that the two countries must deport or extradite up to 130 “terrorists” to Turkey before parliament approves their applications to join NATO. Officials from the Nordic countries said the demands went too far.
On Tuesday, Finland said it hoped the Turkish foreign minister’s visit to the US would help break the impasse.
F-16 sale
The meeting comes after the US State Department informally notified the US Senate and House arms sales committees of its intention to proceed with the $20 billion sale of F-16s to Turkey.
The move prompted a series of statements from members of Congress who oppose the deal, including Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, whose leaders review major foreign military sales.
In a statement to the Reuters news agency, Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said:[Turkish President Tayyip] Erdogan’s repeated attacks on our Syrian Kurdish allies and continued pandering to Russia – including delaying Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership – remain serious causes for concern.”
“As I’ve said before, for Turkey to get the F-16, we need assurances that these concerns will be addressed,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan’s chief foreign policy adviser, told reporters on Saturday that Washington’s demands for the delivery of the fighter jets were “endless”.
He added that he hoped the F-16 deal would not become “hostage” to Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership.
Although Congress can block foreign arms sales, it must do so through legislation. Lawmakers have so far failed to muster the two-thirds majority in both houses needed to override a presidential veto.
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