In the admission that the American government had to work in order to provide solutions to the concerns expressed by Congress regarding the sale of F-16 fighters to Turkey, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. It is recalled that in addition to Sweden’s accession to NATO, American legislators had asked the government to ensure that Ankara will not use F-16 fighters to violate Greek sovereignty in the Aegean.

“We had obstacles in Congress because of the actions that Turkey has taken that we had to overcome and work through. We tried to address them as diligently as possible,” noted Mr. Miller.

In addition, the State Department spokesman explained that the US government has made it clear that the sale of F-16 modernization kits to Turkey should not be linked to Sweden’s accession to NATO. However, as he explained, there are members of Congress who take a different view and have linked the two issues.

Therefore, he did not want to comment on when the US government will be able to proceed with this particular defense contract. Matthew Miller concluded by saying “the best thing that could happen to lead to progress is Turkey to take action as soon as possible for the ratification of Sweden’s accession to NATO”.