Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu evaluated the sale of F-16 Block 70 from the US to Turkey and F-35A Lightning II aircraft to Greece.
In a conversation with Bisera Turkovic, Vice-President of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the joint press conference held after his meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, revealed everything about the intention of the American president.
The Turkish Foreign Minister stated that the second strategic cooperation meeting at the ministerial level will be held with his American counterpart, Anthony Blinken, in Washington on January 18, and revealed that issues determined many days ago will be discussed.
Cavusoglu underlined that the negotiations on the F-16 issue have been completed.
“The US Department of Defense forwarded our request to the State Department. The US government informally notified Congress through the State Department. Referring now to the heads of the Foreign Relations Committee and the most experienced member of both wings, I emphasize that unless a positive decision is taken, the process is not complete. Congress has a 51 percent chance of rejecting the US President's request. If that happens, the President will send it again. If that happens, this time it will have to be voted on by a two-thirds majority. We are waiting for our F-16 VIPER request to go through smoothly. "Although one senator (Menendez) is constantly raising obstacles, we know that the amendment proposals that have been submitted before will pass smoothly," he said.
Stating that they have reached an agreement with the US government in all respects, Cavusoglu said: “If (the US government) remains firm, there will be no problems. We don't want to buy defense products from a country that ties our hands with conditions," Cavusoglu said.
F-35 to Greece
Referring to media reports about the delivery of F-35s to Greece, Cavusoglu said: “The balance in relations between Turkey and Greece has started to deteriorate.
The US had a policy of balance. In Cyprus, the balance between the Turkish and Greek sections began to deteriorate. An ally like the United States must pay attention to these balances," he said.
Emphasizing that they do not care who sells weapons to which side, Cavusoglu said: "What we care about is our power, what we do, what steps we take are in our interests, and that is what we care about," he concluded.
The Turks always look one-sidedly, their own interests, that's why the acquisition of F-35 aircraft from the Greek Air Force is a one-way street. The only language that Ankara historically understands is that of military power and no other.
At a time when an energy and military crisis between Greece and Turkey is perhaps closer than ever, the Greek armed forces are ready to act against Turkish challenges.
We remind you that the initiator of the "Blue Homeland", Admiral Cihat Yaici, recently stated: "We designed the Turkish Shield with Libya to disrupt the Greek game. In the East, we can design the Turkish Shield with an agreement that will include Palestine."
