Turkey warns it will turn to Russia if US blocks F-16 fighter jets sale

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday warned the United States that it will purchase military equipment from its long-time ally Russia if the promised strike and ground attack aircraft for NATO F-16 fighter jets remained undelivered. In August, speculations arose that Turkey struck a fresh deal to receive another “regiment” of the S-400 missile defence system from Moscow, a decision that had previously gotten Ankara kicked out of America's F-35 fighter jet program.

In exchange for the scrapped deal, the United States offered to sell Ankara F-16 fighter jets to utilize the investment,  approximately $1.4 billion that Erdogan announced he had spent on the F-35 deal. 

Turkey has long been mulling modernizing its fleet with Lockheed Martin-made Viper class F-16 fighter jets over its existing F-35 planes. Ankara also dispatched several letters of request on 40 F-16s and 80 modernization kits to the Biden administration after the bilateral agreement on the F-35 program was stalled. US President Joe Biden told Erdogan in June that he supports the sale of F-16 jets but has since failed to gain approval in Congress. The latter has been wary about Turkey's hostile rhetoric against ally Greece and created hurdles to the sales with clause that would restrict their use.

F-16s. Credit: AP

Erdogan denounced the US House of Representatives saying that Biden must not fall for the “game” being played by certain lawmakers. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, in an interview with private broadcaster Haber Global TV, said: "We would not agree to buy a product in a way that could tie our hands."

“Why should we buy a product that we can’t use? We’re expecting the U.S. administration to continue to work to convince Congress for the sale,” he said.

Renewing his calls for the US to sell the F-16s, Turkey's Erdogan on Friday threatened the United States saying that it is not the only country selling warplanes in the world. "The UK, France and Russia sell them as well," Erdogan told reporters. "It's possible to procure them from other places, and others are sending us signals," he reminded. 

Military vehicles and equipment, parts of the S-400 air defense systems, are unloaded from a Russian transport aircraft, at Murted military airport in Ankara, Turkey. Credit: AP

Turkey labels US' scrapping of F-35 deal 'completely illegal and unfair' 

United States blocked the fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets sales program to Turkey in 2019, alleging that Turkey might leak classified info to Moscow. Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalyn said at a state presser that Ankara would be acquiring F-16 jets to expand its fleet and upgrading them as an alternative to acquiring the F-35s. Turkey also slammed the US for scrapping the F-35 program as “completely illegal and unfair,” adding that Ankara had spent $1.4 billion on the arrangement. However, the deal to acquire the F-16 has not been given clearance by the US State Department and Congress, influenced by Turkey's longtime adversaries Greece, Armenia and other nations. 

US President Joe Biden had earlier pledged that he would convince lawmakers to deliver the F-16 jets to Ankara and a Turkish delegation also flew to Washington on August 15 to monitor the progress in finalizing the defence bill, known as NDAA that has yet not been signed by the US president. 

Following the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) in 2020 over the Russian S-400 purchase, Turkey launched several of its own aerospace projects including the TF-X developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries and the British arms company BAE Systems.