Blinken’s meeting with Cavusoglu on Wednesday is of decisive importance for the developments
Her publication yesterday caused great reactions in Washington Wall Street Journal, according to which the Joe Biden administration is determined to bring the sale of advanced F-16s to Turkey for congressional approval. The first to react was Robert Menendez, the chairman of the relevant congressional committee, who said that he was not going to allow the sale of sophisticated American weapons systems to Ankara.
Opposed to selling new F-16s to Turkey so is Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, the new co-chairman of the Greek affairs group in Congress, saying that Turkey could potentially receive American weapons to conduct military operations against a NATO ally. There were also reactions from Gas Bilirakis and Nicole Malliotakis.
On the same wavelength are other American senators, who are informed daily about the provocative statements of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ministers, as well as about the threats against Greece, about invading the islands and missile strikes on Athens and other areas.
According to estimates, however, Joe Biden wants to use the F-16s as a “Trojan Horse” in order to bend Turkey’s resistance and lift Ankara’s veto on Sweden and Finland joining the NATO.
The American president can invoke a “national security issue” for the sale of F-16s to Turkey, if he ultimately chooses to link it directly to the issue of joining the North Atlantic Alliance of the two Nordic countries. NATO and Washington consider its integration to be of strategic importance Sweden and Finland to NATO power as the war in Ukraine continues unabated and the Russian threat continues to expand.
The issues of the Turkish veto and the sale of F-16s are expected to be discussed in the meeting that the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will have with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu next Wednesday.
Ankara, however, insists on the policy of the bargain, sticking to its veto against Sweden. The statements of Ibrahim Kalin are characteristic, who emphasized that “we are not able to send the law for ratification to the Parliament, we have a real problem in this matter”, saying that “there is a risk that the MPs will reject the law”.
Where is the “Turkish” F-16 case?
At this stage, the head of the minority in the International Relations Committee, Jim Reese, and the new chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House, Mike McCall, also have veto rights.
Technical talks between Washington and Ankara have been completed and it is now estimated that the State Department will not delay in formally sending the request to the relevant congressional committees, asking them to approve the defense contract. At this stage the request in question must be approved by the Senate International Relations committee. If the F-16 defense contract ultimately fails to pass Congress, that would effectively mean the case would not move forward at all for a full month, as the process calls for consultations to decide on corrective measures during that time. moves he would like to see Congress make.
From there, the Biden administration will receive the recommendations and suggestions of Congress, which is in a position to set the conditions that, in its own judgment, will improve the defense contract. The White House will then have to present these changes to Turkey in order to consider whether they can be incorporated into the treaty. In the event that Turkey takes a completely negative stance, the president will have the option if he wishes to go back to Congress, this time asking for the approval of a final agreement.
It is noted that in the recent past Donald Trump made this move, as he overrode Congress’s refusal to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia. If President Biden ultimately does something similar, it will certainly be more difficult for Congress to override the White House’s intent in this runoff, as an increased two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate will be required.
In any case, however, political analysts in Washington point out that it will not be politically easy for President Biden to completely override the veto of a foreign relations committee chairman from his own party.
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