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Levent Kenneth/Stockholm
A member of Turkey’s presidential security and foreign policy council said it was time for Turkey to halt its purchases of US weapons, arguing that Turkey has no obligation and need to buy F-16 aircraft from the US. said.
The U.S. government has removed Turkey from the F-35 Striker jet program in 2021 due to Turkey’s purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile system. Instead, Turkey has set its sights on another aircraft, currently to buy 40 Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets and 79 modernization kits to upgrade her outdated F-16 fleet. In addition, we are negotiating with the United States.
Charl Erhan, an adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on security and foreign policy, said on Twitter on January 20 that it was time for Turkey to close the book on American weapons in defense industry procurement, and that the United States first wrote that anyone could sell an F-16. I hope that. Erhan also added that Turkey has no obligation or need to buy her F-16, although he argued that his F-16 is not among the top 10 best fighter jets in the world.
Erhan, president of Altumbaş University, which is owned by a businessman close to Erdogan, later wrote a column in a pro-government Turkish daily, saying Ankara was unfairly excluded from the F-35 program. He argued that Turkey was forced to buy S-400 missiles after the US refused to sell the Patriot missile defense system. -16 said no need to buy.
Erhan shared similar thoughts on a show on pro-Erdogan media outlet TVnet on Saturday.
“We don’t need anybody’s F-16s. There are still people in our military who are unaware of this. We call this strategic practice. In 1947, American weapons became part of the Truman Doctrine. Our Air Force had nothing when it was gifted.There was a threat from the Soviet Union, and Turkey adhered to its doctrine.This created a dependency on the sequel.”
Erhan said that apart from a few transport planes, there were no non-American aircraft in Turkey’s inventory, which he said was a strange situation. According to Erhan, the idea of buying fighters from other NATO member countries in the past was only possible when the Turkish military said its pilots had his F-16 training and could adapt to other fighters. I refused it because it would take a long time, so it didn’t happen. aircraft system.
Turkey argues that its defense industry should diversify resources and prioritize domestic production, and that the US has in the past imposed conditions that attack helicopters it plans to sell to Turkey will not be used in the fight against terrorism. Did.Southeast. He also said the US did not donate several frigates to Turkey, despite promises to do so.
Erhan believes he is far from convincing Turkey that NATO candidate Sweden will approve NATO membership, and the recent Quranic arson outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm is believed to be the result of fanatics. or should not be normalized by claims that it was carried out by extremists. responsible person.
Contrary to popular opinion, he is also against Finland’s NATO membership for the time being. “Did Finland keep its promise to say ‘yes’ to Sweden when we say ‘no’ to Sweden? If they keep their promise, they will become a NATO member.” he tweeted.
However, despite Erhan’s objections, the Turkish government insisted on buying F-16s from the United States, citing an aging Turkish F-16 fleet and an overabundance of aircraft in need of modernization. I’m here.
Mesut Hakkı Caşın, another adviser to the president on security and foreign policy, has previously said that the balance of power between Turkey and Greece has changed following Western military support for Athens, and that the Turkish military’s work has become more difficult, he added. Caşın, a former Air Force officer, also said air superiority passed to Greece after Greece purchased new fighter planes.
The Biden administration is preparing to ask Congress to approve the sale of 40 F-16 fighter jets to Turkey after more than a year of considering Turkey’s request. It will be one of the largest arms sales.
It is unclear whether the US Congress will approve Turkey’s request given the outrage against Erdogan over many issues. Turkey must not activate the S-400 system and purchase her second batch of missiles, a first step toward overthrowing Congressional resistance.
A report released in February 2020 by the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Studies (SETA), a government-funded propaganda think tank in Turkey’s ruling party, found that the diplomatic and military balance between Greece and Turkey had deteriorated, to the detriment of Turkey. says there is. He also said it would be best for Turkey to forgo the purchase of a second batch of her S-400 missiles from Russia in order to strike a delicate balance in the bilateral relationship.
The Turkish government insists it was right to purchase the S-400 missile system, but declined to provide information on whether it worked. Nordic Monitor had previously reported that Turkey was keeping long-range missile systems in storage facilities to avoid risking further US sanctions.
The United States claims that once the S-400 system is operational in Turkey, it will begin collecting data on NATO combat systems and Turkish-owned US fighter jets.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoğlu met with his US counterpart Antony Brinken in Washington on Jan. Said they shouldn’t be portrayed as such. There were reports that Blinken told the Turkish side that unless Turkish blocks on her NATO membership in Sweden and Finland were removed, there would be no progress on the issue between the two NATO allies.
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