Letter from six members of Congress to Blinken on Turkey, Aegean and F-16

The creation of an oversight mechanism that will be able to ensure that Turkey will not use the new F-16 fighters to violate Greek sovereignty in the Aegean has been proposed by six American Members of Congress.

The letter, sent to Foreign Secretary Anthony Blinken, was signed by Congressmen Chris Papas, Gus Bilirakis, Frank Palone, John Sarbanis, Dina Titus, and Nicole Malliotakis.

They urge clear mechanisms of accountability must be included in any F-16 deal with Turkey which will be able to freeze, delay or even cancel the transfer of  F-16 depending on Turkey’s behavior.

“If an agreement for the sale of F-16s and modernization kits to Turkey is under consideration, 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,” the letter says.

As the members of Congress also emphasise, it is imperative that any agreement must safeguard greater NATO security interests, and not merely the accession of Sweden.

They also argue that the terms and conditions can be included in the Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) that the US government will send to Turkey if the F-16 contract is approved.

As noted in the letter, 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 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 passed the House on a bipartisan basis and with 73% of Members voting in favor”.

“Turkey’s belligerence in the region – which threatens the very “stability in the Aegean” praised 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,” they note in the letter.

“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,” they add.

While the members of Congress, “welcome the present pause in Turkey’s destabilizing actions in the region, it is important to stress 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 in November 2021, experts have noted that providing Turkey modernization kits poses similar collocation risks so long as Turkey possesses Russian S- 400s. Turkey’s belligerent behavior towards Greece – a truly reliable, democratic NATO ally – and the threat of its continued possession of S-400s to NATO’s security architecture cannot go unaddressed as the Administration considers an agreement with the Turkish government,” they stress.

“The Administration has an obligation to ensure that U.S.-provided F-16s are not used to undermine U.S. national security interests, stability in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the NATO alliance. As such, if an agreement for the sale of F-16s and modernization kits to Turkey is under consideration, any agreement must include clear and substantive mechanisms to 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,” the letter concludes.