Constantinople Manolis Kostidis

“Ice” in Turkish complaints for the American military presence in Alexandroupoli, put the United States through the full interview of the American ambassador in Ankara Jeff Flake on CNN Turk. The American diplomat also refers to the sale of F-35 and F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.

Asked by the journalist of the television network Hakan Celik, Flake clarified: that “you mentioned Alexandroupolis. There is a small build-up there, but it is only to support the war effort in Ukraine. It is very necessary. Because Turkey has helped a lot in the Black Sea by using the Montreux Convention, which does not allow Russian warships to pass through the Turkish Straits. It has blocked passage to the Black Sea through the Turkish Straits, but it also prevents NATO countries to the west from supplying Ukraine through that route. So the gathering in Greece is just an attempt to resupply our partners in Ukraine. But we don’t favor one ally over another.”

“We are very grateful for the decision of Turkey and Greece to have the Aegean Sea as a sea of ​​peace and it is very good to see that there have been no challenges with flights or anything else that could damage these bilateral relations” however, the American diplomat emphasized.

The interview in detail

Mr. Ambassador, the F-16 is one of the most important issues between the two capitals. How will the F-16 delivery schedule develop after the agreement reached?

[Flake] Yes, the agreement reached in January was that the administration would notify Congress of its intent to sell. Congress approved it. Recently, Turkey signed what is called a letter of agreement with Lockheed Martin, which will build the new aircraft and then refurbish the old models together with Turkey. As such, the Block 70 is the most technologically advanced F-16 and it is very important for Turkey to remain interoperable with its NATO partners. So this is a big step.

[Δημοσιογράφος] Mr. Ambassador, how do you think it is possible for Turkey to return to the F-35 program? Is it possible for Turkey to become a program partner again and not just a buyer? What do you think about it?

[Flake] We would welcome any step to resolve the S-400 issue, which currently prevents Turkey from participating in the F-35 program. So, if and when progress is made on this matter, we would welcome talks with Turkey on the F-35 purchase again. Whether they will be part of the co-production program is a more difficult issue. I leave the decision on this to the partners. Sometimes supply chains can change, so it’s harder to see this. But as far as buying the F-35 again, hopefully that day will come.

We appreciate Turkey, our NATO allies and Greece. We do not favor one over the other. You mentioned Alexandroupolis. There is a small build-up there, but it is only to support the war effort in Ukraine. It is very necessary. Because Turkey has helped a lot in the Black Sea by using the Montreux Convention, which does not allow Russian warships to pass through the ‘Turkish Straits’. It has blocked passage to the Black Sea through the ‘Turkish Straits’, but it also prevents NATO countries to the west from supplying Ukraine through this route. So the gathering in Greece is just an attempt to resupply our partners in Ukraine. But we do not favor one ally over another. We are very grateful for the decision of Turkey and Greece to have the Aegean Sea as a sea of ​​peace and it is very good to see that there have been no challenges with flights or anything else that could damage these bilateral relations. It was reported that Turkey is treated differently on Capitol Hill and in Washington and this is partly due to the better relations between Turkey and Greece.

We have an open invitation to T/President Erdogan to come to the White House, if our schedules coincide. It could be done during the NATO Summit. 32 heads of state will be in Washington. It is great to see NATO so strong and united. However, we are also on the move for all kinds of high-level visits and meetings that we can arrange. There is nothing we can announce at this time.