United States President Joe Biden has extended for one year the sanctions imposed on Turkey in 2019. This was reported by Ermenihaber.
In Biden’s statement, it was said that Turkey’s military operations in northeastern Syria hinder the fight against the terrorist organization the “Islamic State” (IS), and also create a threat to civilians. It was also noted that Turkey’s actions threaten regional security and peace.
The source recalled that the reason for the 2019 sanctions was Turkey’s military operations against Syrian Kurds.
Sanctioned were Turkey’s Minister of Defense Hulusi Akar and Minister of Interior Suleyman Soylu.
On the other hand, Turkey wishes to purchase 40 F-16 fighter jets from the United States. This was reported by Turkish media, citing the “Reuters” news agency. Turkey has already applied to the US on this matter.
According to the agency, the possible deal is estimated at 1 billion dollars. At this time, Turkey’s request is being studied by the State Department and the Pentagon’s office dealing with international agreements.
Despite all this, it was noted that even if the Pentagon and the State Department give approval to the deal, there is still a high probability that Congress will reject it, as there are a number of reasons.
As a reason, the fact is put forward that Turkey has acquired S-400 anti-aircraft missile defense systems from Russia, as a result of which Turkish-American relations were in crisis in the recent past.
The Russian “TASS” news agency contacted the State Department to learn some details, but received no response from the department.
Let us recall that the US and Turkey had signed an agreement regarding the program of American state-of-the-art F-35 fighter jets, but the American side excluded Ankara from that program and never delivered the 100 fighter jets that were planned.
