America is going to pay the price.
Erdogan: America will pay the price
The President of Turkey warned the United States that Washington will pay the price for American refusal to supply advanced F35 fighter jets.
Sputnik, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Washington will pay for this, referring to the failure of America’s promise to supply Ankara with advanced F-35 fighter jets.
After Ankara was excluded from the “Lightning 2” program for the sale of F-35, due to the purchase of the S-400 missile system from Russia, Erdogan said in 2021 that Washington offered Ankara the purchase of F-16.
Erdogan said to America today (Monday): Regarding the F16 fighters, I must say that we wanted to buy it from you, but you did not deliver it. At first, you were supposed to give us F-35, but Khalaf promised.
He added: Although we paid about 1.4 billion dollars, we did not get anything! If you don’t give us anything in return, you will pay.
Erdogan’s warning comes after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s comments earlier this month. Çavuşoğlu said that Ankara is waiting for the US approval to receive F-16 fighters.
Bob Menendez, the US Democratic Senator who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, previously announced in a statement that he strongly opposes the proposal of Joe Biden’s government to sell F-16 to Turkey.
He said: “Until Erdogan abandons his threats, improves his human rights record in Turkey, and starts behaving as a reliable ally, I will not approve the sale of the F-16.”
The contract, which is said to be worth 20 billion, includes 40 new fighter jets and 79 upgrade kits, and this requires the approval of the State Department, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well as the House Foreign Relations Committee.
A Turkish publication reported last year that if the contract for the purchase of the F-16 is not finalized, Ankara may consider the purchase of the fourth-generation Eurofighter Typhoon.
