F-16s, amendments in Congress, and the role of the US

When US Senators Bob Menendez and Chris Van Hollen and Congressman Chris Pappas submitted amendments to the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, calling on President Joe Biden to give assurances that the advanced F-16 jets Turkey was requesting – purchase of 40 new and upgrade of 80 older ones – would not be used to conduct overflights over Greek territory or in military operations against the Kurds, it was clear that it would not be easy to impose such limitations against a member-state of NATO.

The amendments may not have been included in the final draft of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) being debated by the Senate as per the house’s rules, but the matter is far from over. Menendez, who chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, has enormous clout, while the amendment submitted by Greek-American Congressman Pappas will be part of the negotiations between the two houses of Congress in the context of legislative procedures concerning the defense budget.

The Biden administration does not want to attach strings to defense sales as these may stand in the way of conducting their foreign and security policies.

Actually, during his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in June on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid, the American president spoke to his Turkish counterpart of his intention to promote the sale of the F-16s and upgrade kits.

It is not, however, just a matter of Congress. Officials in the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon are growing frustrated with Turkey’s aggressive behavior against an increasingly important NATO ally.

In any case, the amendments in question have significant support and the mood in the Congress for Turkey these days is definitely not one of enthusiasm and that cannot be overlooked by Turkish officials, including Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu whose last rant against Greece also saw him lashing out against “third parties” and accusing the United States of losing its sense of balance.

This is simply not the case. In the complex puzzle that is Greek-Turkish relations, some with rare access to the highest echelons in Washington, including the White House, have been mobilized and are cooperating not just with Greek but also with Turkish diplomats, to find a functional solution.

Indeed, their influence is such that they were crucial in getting Biden to agree to meet with Erdogan in Madrid. Therefore, instead of hurling accusations against them, Cavusoglu ought to accept the fact that they are a tried-and-true effective factor.

We are not talking about some emotionally charged, zero-sum game here. Instead, serious efforts are under way in the Washington-Athens-Ankara triangle to find a formula that will terminate Turkey’s mounting aggressive rhetoric, defuse the tension and gradually restore a relationship of trust between the two Aegean neighbors.