Erdogan threatens US, says Washington will 'pay a price' for not selling F-35s to Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has threatened the US that it will "face consequences" for not selling Turkey the F-35 fighter jets, as per a report from Sputnik. He stated that Turkey paid $1.4 billion but received nothing in return, and now the US should supply F-16s, which they had initially promised to supply but did not. Erdogan's remarks come after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu recently said that Turkey is waiting for US approval to receive F-16s. 

Senator Bob Menendez, the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has stated that he strongly opposes the proposed sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey by the Biden administration. He demands that Turkey's President Erdogan stop making threats, improve human rights, and act like a trustworthy ally before he would approve the sale. “Until Erdogan ceases his threats, improves his human rights record at home… and begins to act like a trusted ally, I will not approve this sale,” Menendez said. 

A look at the issue

The F-16 deal, worth $20 billion, involves 40 new fighters and 79 upgrade kits and requires the approval of the State Department, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. In 2022, the annual defense spending bill for 2023 financial year included articles regarding restrictions on the sale of the F-16 jets to Turkey, but these were blocked by the US Congress, despite attempts by the State Department to show that the deal aligned with US interests. The US-Turkey dispute began when Turkey chose to purchase Russian S-400 missile defense systems, which led to the cancellation of the F-35 jet sale to Turkey by the US due to fears of the potential leak of military secrets to Russia.

In July 2019, the delivery of the F-35s to Turkey was delayed by the US due to "security concerns" related to the S-400s, as they could potentially expose the weaknesses of the F-35s and send that information to Moscow. In October 2021, Turkey stated that the Russian air defense systems were not a danger to the security of the US or NATO, and President Erdogan announced that the US had proposed that Turkey purchase the fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets instead of the fifth-generation F-35s. The $2.5 billion deal between Russia and Turkey for the delivery of four S-400 batteries was signed in December 2017 and all components of the S-400 air defense missile system were delivered to Turkey by 2020.