2 yıl önce

Blinken: US should remove hurdles from military sales to Türkiye, India

"I think that we can and should do better in [military] sales, particularly in the rapidity with which we're able to do things, review things," top US diplomat Blinken says in congressional testimony.

AP

Blinken's comments come amid ongoing talks between Washington and Ankara over the sale of some 40 F-16 fighter jets and 80 kits to modernise its existing fleet.

Foreign military sales to key American partners like Türkiye and India should be expedited and bureaucratic hurdles removed, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.

Asked during congressional testimony on Thursday what the Biden administration can do "to cut through the red tape to help our work with our allies such as Türkiye and India," Blinken acknowledged that the processes need to be hurried at both the executive and congressional levels.

"I think that we can and should do better in sales, particularly in the rapidity with which we're able to do things, review things. I think that's on us in the executive branch. It's also on Congress," he told the House Appropriations Committee.

"A number of countries, as I said earlier, are rethinking their relationships, including with Russia, including countries that have had long-standing defence relationships with Russia. If we're in a position to be a partner to them in ways that maybe we couldn't be some decades ago, I think that's something we need to be able to act on," he said.

"Of course, if we don't, we know who's likely to do it in our place."

The comments come amid ongoing bilateral talks between Washington and Ankara over the sale of some 40 F-16 fighter jets and 80 kits to modernise its existing fleet.

The Turkish government made the request in October and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on April 8 that the talks were "progressing positively."

Sales in line with US interests

A senior State Department official said in congressional correspondence that the sale of F-16s to Türkiye would serve US interests and bolster NATO unity.

Naz Durakoglu, the State Department's top official for legislative affairs, acknowledged in a letter to Congressman Frank Pallone the ongoing tensions over additional arms sales to Türkiye but maintained that the sanctions and Türkiye's removal from the F-35 fighter jet programme represent "a significant price paid" for its acquisition of Russia's S-400 missile defence system.

"The Administration believes that there are nonetheless compelling long-term NATO alliance unity and capability interests, as well as US national security, economic and commercial interests that are supported by appropriate US defence trade ties with Turkey," Durakoglu wrote to Pallone, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

"The proposed sale will require a Congressional notification if the Department of State were to approve it. We affirm our commitment to established defence trade authorisation procedures, including Congressional oversight," she added, according to a copy of the letter circulated on social media.

Durakoglu further pointed to Türkiye's active contributions to NATO, as well as its support for "Ukraine's territorial integrity and cooperative defence relations," calling them "an important deterrent to malign influence in the region."

SOURCE: AA