He noted that the amendment he tabled to the US defense budget is just one of the tools at his disposal to advance US interests in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The clear position that as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he is not going to approve any F16 sales to Turkey until Tayyip Erdogan stops his campaign of aggression throughout the region, he expressed through twitter US Senator Bob Menendez.
He noted that the amendment he tabled to the US defense budget is just one of the tools at his disposal to advance US interests in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Senate’s decision yesterday to leave out of the US defense budget bill the amendments that imposed conditions on Turkey to upgrade the F-16s, as the chairman of the Senate Defense Affairs Committee said he wanted the final text to include only the amendments on which there were no disagreements.
In his amendment, Mr. Menendez asked the US President to commit that he “cannot sell or authorize the export of new F-16 aircraft or upgrade technology or F-16 modernization kits to any authority, in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Defense Export Controls, to the government of Turkey or any agency or agency of Turkey, unless the president certifies to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Congressional Defense Committees:
1) that such transfer is in the national interest of the United States;
2) this certification must include a detailed description of the specific measures taken to ensure that such F-16s are not used by Turkey for repeated unauthorized overflights over Greece.”
It is emphasized that Senator Menendez reserves the right as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to veto the approval of defense contracts.
At the same time, Senator Chris Van Hollen has filed an amendment that sets additional conditions for Turkey to acquire and upgrade F-16 fighters.
Regarding the issue of overflights in the Aegean, Senator Van Hollen’s amendment moves along the same lines as Senator Robert Menendez’s own amendment, as it asks the American president to certify to the relevant congressional committees that the F-16 they will not be used for overflights over the Greek islands.
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