Sarbanes: Congress would not have approved F-16 sale to Turkey without assurances

The US State Department has given Congress the necessary assurances regarding Greece’s security in the Aegean and the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, Congressman John Sarbanes told Greek TV station Open on Wednesday.

According to Sarbanes, if these assurances had not been given, the heads of the committees would not have approved the sale of the F-16s and would not publicly appear comfortable about the sale.

Under the terms of the agreement reached in Vilnius, known as the so-called “Menendez package”, the legislators were to receive a letter in which the State Department pledged to take the initiative to address any problem if the terms of the sale were violated by Turkey, and that the F-16 programme will be terminated if the issue was still not resolved. The deal stipulates that the fighter jets cannot be used to violate the sovereignty of another NATO ally.

Talking about this letter to Open TV, Sarbanes confirmed that a series of communications and assurances have been made to the chairs of the congressional committees that can approve such a sale.

[AMNA]