US 'clear' on sending F-16s to Türkiye

ISTANBUL (AA) – President Joe Biden is “clear and unequivocal” on sending F-16s to Türkiye, said US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Tuesday.

“President Biden has been clear and unequivocal for months that he supported the transfer of F-16s to Türkiye,” Sullivan told reporters at a news conference as part of the NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.

“This is in our national interest, it's in the interest of NATO that Türkiye gets that capability,” he added.

"He has placed no caveats or conditions on that in his public and private comments over the past few months and he intends to move forward with that transfer and consultation with Congress,” he added.

Asked about the timing of the F-16 transfer, he said: “The president has said all along that he is interested in getting these F-16s to Türkiye and he has backed that up by actually sending the package to the Congress.”

“So we will work with the Congress on the appropriate timing for getting them to Türkiye. But I can't speculate on the precise day it's going to happen, only that we support it getting done,” he added.

His remarks came after Türkiye greenlit Sweden's NATO bid on Monday.

Ankara requested F-16 fighter jets and modernization kits from the US in October 2021. The $6-billion deal would include the sale of 40 jets as well as modernization kits for 79 warplanes already in the Turkish Air Force’s inventory.