Turkey nears F-16 purchase with okay for Sweden NATO bid

The US ambassador to Ankara says he anticipates that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will give a final sign-off on Sweden’s NATO membership within days, triggering rapid steps toward US Congress endorsing a sale of F-16 fighter jets to the country.

In an exclusive interview on Thursday, Ambassador Jeff Flake says that once the formal ratification document is received in Washington, the US State Department will immediately send Congress notification of the F-16s sale.

Turkey’s parliament ratified Sweden’s NATO membership bid on Tuesday, clearing a major hurdle to expanding the Western military alliance after 20 months of delay.

Erdogan needs to sign the legislation, which then would be published in Turkey’s Official Gazette. The instrument of accession for Sweden also needs to be sent to Washington.

Asked whether he expected this “within days,” Flake, a former US Republican senator, told Reuters: “Yes, I do.”

“I see no reason why, with the parliament having acted here, that Turkey would wait,” he said. “So I would expect as soon as that is conveyed to Washington, then congressional notification (of the F-16 sales) will happen.”

The move comes a day after Erdogan, a vocal supporter of the Hamas terror group, hosted Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, who pressed Turkey to cut off all ties with Israel, underlining Ankara’s attempts to walk a tightrope between Western and Iranian interests.

Raisi stressed in his public remarks that it was essential for all nations to “limit their relationship with the Zionist regime.”

“Certainly, cutting the vital arteries of the Zionist regime, and political and economic relations can be effective in forcing the Zionist regime to end all these atrocities,” Raisi said.