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The US will transfer F-16 fighter jets to Turkey in consultation with Congress, the US national security adviser said on Tuesday, hours after Turkey’s president agreed to drop his veto on Sweden joining Nato.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s U-turn on Stockholm’s accession to the US-led military alliance — which followed heavy lobbying from Washington and other western capitals — clears a major headache for Nato as it beefs up its defences in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
US president Joe Biden “has placed no caveats or conditions on [the transfer] . . . and he intends to move forward with that transfer in consultation with Congress”, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said ahead of a Nato summit meeting.
Biden administration officials have been careful not to suggest any explicit link between the fighter jets and Sweden’s membership bid. But Ankara’s decision to drop its opposition sends a strong message to the US Congress, which must approve sending the F-16s, a move previously opposed by prominent members.
Erdoğan relented on Sweden’s membership of the military alliance after a flurry of diplomatic efforts on Monday to unlock a deal. Nato, EU and US officials had sought to find ways to win over the Turkish president.
Biden spoke to Erdoğan on the way to the Nato summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Monday and is due to meet him later on Tuesday on the sidelines. They discussed “how the US and Turkey can move forward positively” if Ankara were to “make a big step” and greenlight Sweden’s bid, Sullivan said.
The Turkish president then met Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson and Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg, following a separate meeting with European Council president Charles Michel that focused on “re-energising” Turkey’s stalled EU membership process.
Michel said that while the processes were entirely separate, green-lighting Sweden’s entry to Nato would “create a good atmosphere among people who want to help you” in Brussels, according to a person briefed on the discussion.
Bob Menendez, chair of the US Senate foreign relations committee who has been against the jet transfer, signalled on Monday that he could drop his long-running opposition to the move amid discussions with the White House.
“We’re having conversations with the administration,” Menendez told Reuters. “If they can find a way to ensure that Turkey’s aggression against its neighbours ceases, which there has been a lull the last several months, that’s great but there has to be a permanent reality.”
Biden first offered support to the idea of sending F-16s last year after Finland and Sweden applied to join Nato.
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