ANKARA (Anadolu) – Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that many countries are willing to meet his country’s needs, if the U.S. does not meet Ankara’s need for F-16 fighters.
In response to journalists’ questions, he said, “If the United States does not meet our need for F-16 fighters, many countries are willing to do so.”
Erdogan added that his country can meet its needs in this regard, like its purchase of the Russian S-400 systems, when Washington refused to provide it with Patriot air-defence systems.
After the election of U.S. President Joe Biden, relations between Washington and Ankara experienced a period of chilly relations for a year due to Turkey’s record in the field of human rights and its foreign policy.
However, the Biden administration has shown greater support for Turkey since the start of the Russia-Ukrainian war in February.
The U.S. President said that he wants Congress to approve the sale of F-16s, after his meeting with the Turkish President on the side-lines of the NATO summit in June in Madrid.
“I said back in December, as you’ll recall, we should sell them the F-16 jets and modernize those jets as well,” said Biden at the end of the NATO summit in Madrid, at the time, “but I need congressional approval to be able to do that,” he added.