US: ‘Blockade’ on Turkey for F-35s due to blackmail in Sweden and Finland

“Retaliation” for Turkey’s stance and its refusal to join Sweden, Sweden and Finland, the United States is coming to give.

More specifically, as reported by breaking defense, the answer was given by the chairman of the Armed Forces Committee of the House of Representatives, Adam Smith and concerns the return of Turkey to the program of F-35 fighters.

“Turkey is not returning to the F-35 program,” Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington, told reporters at an event organized by the Defense Writers’ Group.

Turkey was the first partner in the F-35 program and helped finance its development. The plan was to buy 100 of the F-35A models, which had been secured by several NATO countries.

However, after the purchase of the Russian S-400 system, the United States became particularly concerned that the Russian system would be used to gather information on the F-35 from Moscow.

After several years of negotiations, in July 2019 Turkey took the S-400s on its territory.

Turkey: Poker continues for Sweden and Finland joining NATO

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s foreign policy adviser said today to his US counterpart that Ankara wants “concrete steps” to be taken by “terrorist organizations” – as he calls them – in Finland and Sweden to consider their candidacy for NATO membership.

According to a statement issued by the Turkish presidency, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Ibrahim Kalin discussed today the candidacy of the two Scandinavian countries for NATO membership as well as the war in Ukraine.

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Turkey opposes the two countries ‘accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on the grounds that they provide shelter to people affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and other organizations it considers terrorist. Finland and Sweden also ended arms exports to Turkey in 2019.

In a statement, the Turkish presidency said that Kalin had told Sullivan by telephone that countries wishing to join NATO should “learn the values ​​and principles of the alliance in terms of security and counter-terrorism. ».

“It was stressed that Sweden and Finland must take concrete steps against terrorist organizations that threaten Turkey’s national security,” the statement added.

Sweden and Finland have stated that they condemn terrorism and are open to dialogue.

SOURCE: enikos.gr

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