US Senate drops amendments restricting F-16 sale to Turkey
Two amendments introduced by Democratic Senators Bob Menendez and Chris van Hollen restricting the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey have been dropped from the Senate version of the annual US defense spending bill.
The Senate formally kicked off debate Tuesday on the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a must-pass $817 billion bill setting policy for the Pentagon.
The Senate is out of session until after the November 8 mid-term elections. The fiscal 2023 NDAA must pass the Senate and House of Representatives before it can be sent to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law.
The first amendment required the American president to certify that “such a transfer is in the national interest of the United States” and requires “concrete steps taken to ensure that such F-16s are not used by Turkey for repeated unauthorized territorial overflights of Greece.”
The second amendment created additional conditions for Turkey to purchase or modernize its F-16 fighter jets, also relating to Ankara’s efforts to undermine the Syrian Democratic Forces and requiring its ratification of Sweden and Finland’s NATO accession.
‘Pathetic’ Greece
Meanwhile, after defending the controversial agreements Ankara signed with the Libyan government in Tripoli, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu Tuesday launched into a brazen verbal attack on Greece, which views the maritime borders and hydrocarbon exploration deals with the North African country as a sharp escalation in aggression on Turkey’s part.
“The agreement with Libya foresees exploration on land, at sea, coastal research and more. What do you care, since the agreement does not include a particular area that is under discussion for you?” he said, claiming that Greece is vexed by the agreements because it “cannot stomach the fact that Turkey is a global actor.” “Greece is pathetic. People are tired of it,” Cavusoglu told TVNET in an interview, according to translated comments.
[Combined reports]
