Secretary Blinken getting called out (on a bi-partisan basis) for succumbing to Turkey’s blackmail: Doesn’t look like these Members of Congress, or Senator Menendez are willing to be extorted along with him…

ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ

Για πρώτη φορά υπό ΝΑΤΟϊκή διοίκηση το πυρηνικό αεροπλανοφόρο «Σαρλ ντε Γκολ»: Σε συμμαχική επιχείρηση η ναυαρχίδα του γαλλικού στόλου

Defence Min Dendias receives Greek and Turkish delegations debating CBMs between the two countries

PM Mitsotakis: Rapprochement with Turkiye has helped reduce illegal migration

Dear Secretary Blinken:

We write with regards to the reported discussions between the United States and the Republic of Turkey on the sale of F-16s fighter jets and modernization kits in relation to Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

If an agreement for the sale of F-16s and modernization kits to Turkey is being negotiated, we strongly urge that any final agreement must include mechanisms that provide for the pause, delay, or snapback of the transfer of such weapons if Turkey engages in actions that threaten or undermine U.S. national security interests and the unity of the NATO alliance.

While Russia’s invasion Ukraine has underscored the importance of NATO unity, Turkey has continued to hold Sweden’s accession to NATO hostage in order to obtain F-16s and modernization kits from the United States. Despite this, according to a recent report in Punchbowl New, State Department officials have recently been meeting with Congressional leaders tasked with approving weapon sales to ensure Congress “won’t undercut them if they seek a deal with Turkey that ties the F-16 sale to Ankara’s approval of Sweden.”

We are concerned with this report given the Administration’s consistent declarations that F-16 sales were NOT linked to Sweden’s accession.  As it becomes increasingly clear the Administration is using every tool at its disposal to pressure Congress and relevant stakeholders into approving the sale of F-16s and modernization kits to Turkey, it is imperative that any agreement must safeguard greater NATO security interests, and not merely the accession of Sweden.

• Turkey’s belligerence in the region – which threatens the very “stability in the Aegean” lauded by both President Biden and National Security Advisor Sullivan in recent readouts – must end for the U.S. to responsibly transfer new weapons to Ankara.  There must be guarantees that preclude American weapons being used to provoke a conflict within NATO.

Given Turkey’s history of using American F-16s for overflights in the Aegean and to challenge Greek sovereignty, we request mechanisms that provide for the pause, delay, or snapback of the transfer of American weapons to Turkey if it resumes its destabilizing actions in the Eastern Mediterranean that threaten or undermine U.S. national security interests or NATO security architecture.

As you know, after receiving a Letter of Request and notifying Congress of the intention to move forward with the sale of U.S. defense articles, the U.S. government will respond to the requesting country with a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA), which details the terms, conditions, and oversight mechanisms governing the articles covered under the sale.

Additionally, all U.S. defense articles sold, leased, or exported under the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) of 1976, 22 U.S.C. §2751, et seq. (AECA) are subject to end-use monitoring to ensure that the recipient is complying with the requirements imposed by the U.S. government with respect to use, transfers, and security of the articles, to be conducted by the President to ensure compliance with U.S. arms export rules and policies.

After the agreement is finalized, it is then incumbent upon the U.S. government to implement end-use monitoring as required by U.S. law and specified within the terms of the LOA.

There is not only precedent for imposing conditions on the sale of defensive weapons, but Congress has also already voiced support for attaching conditions to such a sale. In the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the House of Representatives passed an amendment which would establish reasonable limitations on the Administration’s ability to transfer F-16 aircraft and F-16 modernization kits to Turkey. This provision, Section 1271 passed the House on a bipartisan basis and with 73% of Members voting in favor of the amendment.

• While we welcome the present pause in Turkey’s use of its existing F-16 fleet to repeatedly violate Greece’s sovereignty and territorial airspace, the Erdogan government has not changed policy. The impression that Turkey has improved relations with NATO ally Greece is belied by the fact that Ankara maintains a casus belli against Athens.

Turkey also continues to possess Russian S-400 missile systems, the purchase of which – due to collocation concerns – was the basis for Turkey’s ejection from the F-35 program in 2019.

As previously stated in a letter sent to you on November 1, 2021, experts have noted that providing Turkey the Block 70 modernization kits poses similar collocation risks if Ankara continues to possess Russian S-400s. This belligerent behavior towards Greece – a truly reliable, democratic NATO ally – and the threat of Turkey’s continued possession of S-400s to NATO’s security architecture cannot go unaddressed as the Administration considers an agreement with the Turkish government.

It is incumbent upon the Administration to ensure that U.S.-provided F-16s will not be used to undermine U.S. national security interests, regional stability, and NATO unity in the Eastern Mediterranean. As such, we strongly urge the Administration to establish clear and substantive mechanisms that provide for the pause, delay, or snapback of F-16s and modernization kits if Turkey engages in actions that threaten or undermine U.S. national security interests and the unity of the NATO alliance.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter, and we look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
Chris Pappas, Gus Bilirakis, Frank Pallone, John Sarbanes, Dina Titus and Nicole Malliotakis

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