Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed Sweden’s NATO accession protocol, and now Ankara is waiting for congressional approval for the F-16s.

Ankara’s latest move is for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send an update to Washington and NATO that the protocol has been approved, as noted by Manolis Kostidis.

Today, however, Ankara and Washington are waiting for the State Department to send a request to Congress for the sale of 40 F-16s and modernization kits for the remaining fighters.

Possibly, the request will be accompanied by assurances about Turkey’s behavior in order to appease the reactions in Congress, possibly with clauses that will concern the development of armament programs.

The HABER TURK TV network reported: “The law regarding the protocol of Sweden’s accession to NATO, which was approved by the Turkish Parliament, was published in the government gazette. The law was published with article 7492 and it is mentioned that the protocol concerning the inclusion of the Kingdom of Sweden in the North Atlantic Treaty is approved and has been signed on November 5, 2022. And the president signed the decision of the presidency on the approval of the protocol of the decision of accession of Sweden”.

The American ambassador to Turkey believes that the development of Greek-Turkish relations was useful for changing the climate in Congress.

“I don’t think we’ll see a vote on F-16s in Congress”

“We probably won’t see a vote in Congress, there’s no need for that. There will be a vote only if there is opposition. So we’re at a good point, and I often talk to my old friends in Congress. Frankly, they attach great importance to Sweden joining NATO. We are at a satisfactory point, but of course, the issue of the sale is within the jurisdiction of Congress and they will evaluate it.

The growing relationship between Turkey and Greece has been really helpful in Congress and elsewhere. It’s been great to see the security cooperation, the trade cooperation, the warm relationship between the two countries and that helps as well,” said Flake.

Turkish analysts: If we hit the Larissa base, we will also disable the F-35s that the Greeks will receive”

“An F-35 is like having 100 aircraft in front of it that are interconnected with each other”

Mehmet Akif Ersoy, presenter of HABERTURK, said: “We are comparing the F-35s with the F-16s as Greece will be given F-35s while Turkey will receive F-16s. We wonder which is better. That is, it is better to have a modernized F-16 or perhaps an F-35. Which one is better in terms of combat.”

The former head of the Turkish Air Force’s Intelligence Department, Gyursel Tokmakoglou, responded: “You are asking a question that the answer must have a lot of technical details.”

“Let me ask you simply as we used to say when we were young. Which one knocks the other on the wood?’ returned Ersoy.

Tokmakoglou replied: “You speak well, but war is not such a simple matter. Let me explain. Let’s assume that the Greeks received the F-35s and transferred them to the Larissa base. You too go and wreak havoc on the runway of Larissa. So what will Greece do with the F-35s? F-35s are like robots. Essentially in front of you is not just an aircraft but a robot that is connected to other robots. That is, when you come face to face with the F-35, you are facing not only this aircraft, but all the aircraft that communicate and are interconnected with each other, and the F-35 and the rest. In other words, in reality, you don’t have just one F-35 in front of you, but hundreds of aircraft.”

Ankara: “We stand by the just struggle of our Turkish expatriates in Western Thrace”

“On the day of their national resistance, we commemorate Sadiq Ahmed”

Turkish Defense Ministry spokesman Zeki Akturk said: “Again, on the occasion of ‘January 29th National Resistance and Social Solidarity Day’, we express that we stand by our ‘Turkish expatriates’ of ‘Western Thrace’ in their righteous struggle and commemorate pioneer of the struggle Dr Sadiq Ahmed with mercy and respect”.