The United States agreed to the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey on condition that Turkey not use them for overflights above the Greek islands but only for NATO alliance purposes, the Greek Kathimerini daily reported, citing “reliable diplomatic sources.”
The daily said a confidential letter was sent from the US State Department to the “four relevant committees” in the House of Representatives and the Senate, on the issue.
The letter reportedly stipulated that if this condition is violated, the State Department pledges to take the initiative to address the problem, and if the issue is still not resolved, the F-16 program will be terminated, according to Kathimerini.
Ending months of negotiations, the US government on January 26 approved a $23 billion deal to sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, after Ankara ratified Sweden’s NATO membership.
As required by US law, the State Department notified Congress of the agreement as well as a separate $8.6 billion sale of 40 F-35s to Greece.
Kathimerini recalled Turkey’s exclusion from the F-35 program in 2019 as a result of its purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system in the same year as a similar example of what would happen if Turkey does not comply with the prerequisites of the F-16 sale.
Turkey’s aging air force has suffered from Ankara’s expulsion from the US-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program in response to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s decision to acquire the S-400 defense system, which NATO viewed as an operational security threat.
“Ideally, the Greek government would wish to see the letter’s content, as it is part of a more comprehensive agreement. However, the belief in Athens, mainly on the basis of assurances from members of Congress who are friendly to Greece, is that the letter’s wording is probably satisfactory,” the newspaper said.
Kathimerini also said this precondition might have been set by the US government to convince opponents of the F-16 sale to Turkey due to Turkey’s actions in the eastern Mediterranean region and Ukraine.
Turkey in October 2021 sought to buy 40 Lockheed Martin Corp. F-16 fighter jets and 80 modernization kits for its existing warplanes. Technical talks between the two sides were concluded long ago, but the sale did not take place until recently due to objections from some US lawmakers who had concerns about issues including Turkey’s resistance to the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership, human rights abuses and Turkish overflights of Greek airspace.
Kathimerini said it remains to be seen whether these conditions will be met by Ankara, not in the current phase of declining tension in Greek-Turkish relations, but in the future.
