Turkey wants to accelerate delivery of American F-16 fighters, - Sabah
Negotiations on the purchase of F-16 between Ankara and Washington have been going on for some time.
This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to the Turkish publication Sabah.
According to the publication, Presidents Joe Biden and Recep Tayyip Erdogan may meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September. They are expected to discuss the supply of American F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.
The source claims that Erdogan wants to speed up the delivery of F-16 fighter jets. In this regard, Ankara demands that this issue be referred to the US Congress.
We will remind, on December 29, 2017, Turkey and the Russian Federation signed a credit agreement within the framework of the agreement on the supply of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems.
The American side has repeatedly stated that it does not intend to supply Turkey with F-35 fighter-bombers if Ankara simultaneously receives the S-400 from Russia.
On July 12, 2019, Russia handed over the first batch of components for S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems to Turkey. In total, Turkey signed a contract to order four systems worth 2.5 billion dollars and became the first country of the Alliance to purchase anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia.
NATO is concerned about the possible consequences of Turkey's purchase of Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. Then-President Donald Trump announced that the US would stop selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. The reason was the delivery of Russian S-400 air defense systems to Turkey.
Subsequently, the US accepted Ankara's offer to study the Russian S-400 "Triumph" systems for their operation and the threat to NATO, in exchange for the US reviewing the decision to sell fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.
Washington also offered to supply Turkey with F-16 fighter jets in exchange for its earlier investments in the F-35 program.
