Turkish FM welcomes exclusion of conditions on F-16 sale
Turkey has welcomed the removal of curbs on the sale of US F-16 fighter jets from the final text of the Fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA.
Speaking at a joint press conference with his Moldovan counterpart Nicu Popescu in Istanbul, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said “the absence of [restrictions] is a positive development. We welcome this.”
He said that completion of the deal would be “in everyone’s interest,” adding that the process must be finalized “as soon as possible.”
The explanatory text accompanying the $858 billion defense policy bill however mentioned that “North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies should not conduct unauthorized territorial overflights of another NATO ally’s airspace.”
The statement was seen as a warning to Turkey over its systematic airspace violations and overflights in the Aegean.
