The US Congress officially approves the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye
The US ambassador to Türkiye announced on Sunday that Congress had officially approved the sale of F-16 fighters to Türkiye, which ends months of negotiations between Washington and Ankara in this regard.
Ambassador Jeff Flake said in a message posted by the US Embassy in Ankara on X, “Congress’s decision to approve Türkiye to acquire forty F-16 fighters and 79 development kits constitutes significant progress”.
On January 26, the US government approved this deal worth $23 billion, three days after Ankara ratified Sweden’s accession to NATO.
The US Congress was informed on the same day of the Turkish request regarding the fighter jets, and it had fifteen days to express its rejection, which didn’t happen.
US official explained that the United States didn’t agree to sell the fighters until it received from Türkiye in concrete form the tools to ratify Sweden’s accession to NATO, which reflects the extremely sensitive nature of the negotiations that preceded reaching the agreement.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delayed Sweden’s accession to the alliance for twenty months, stipulating simultaneous US approval for the sale of fighters to his country.
