According to President Joe Biden, there is no “quid pro quo” in selling Turkey F-16s in exchange for it ending its objections to Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
At the conclusion of a two-day NATO meeting in Madrid, Spain, he made his remarks.
It began with reports that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had approved of NATO expansion, and senior Biden administration officials offered encouraging remarks regarding Turkey’s decision to purchase F-16s.
However, at a press conference after the summit, Biden argued it was incorrect to imply an agreement had been reached.
‘I said back in December, as you recall, we should sell them the F-16 jets … modernise those jets as well,’ he said.
‘It’s not in our interest not to do that. And I indicated to them that I’ve not changed my position at all since December.
‘And there was no quid pro quo with that. It’s just that we should sell.
‘I need congressional approval to be able to do that, and I think we can get that.’
Sweden and Finland ended decades of neutrality to apply for NATO membership after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Biden praised the decision.
‘I want to particularly thank you for what you did putting together the situation with regard to Finland and Sweden,’ he told Erdogan when they met on the sidelines of the summit on Wednesday.
Following a phone conversation between the two presidents, Erdogan made his declaration.
Additionally, once Turkey abandoned its objection to the admission of Finland and Sweden, U.S. officials were complimentary of its intention to modernize its air force.
‘The US Department of Defense fully supports Turkey’s modernization plans for its F-16 fleet,’ Celeste Wallander, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, told reporters.
‘These plans are in the works.’
As a result, there were several rumors that the U.S. had promised to facilitate the sale in exchange for advancement on NATO expansion.
Turkey placed a bid to purchase 40 F-16 jets and many modification packages for its current airplanes in October.
In addition, Biden used his press conference to announce that he was sending Ukraine additional $800 million in military aid and claimed that NATO’s expansion had negated Putin’s aggressiveness.
‘I don’t know how it’s going to end, but it will not end with Russia defeating in Ukraine,’ said Biden.
‘Ukraine has already dealt a severe blow to Russia.’
The new round of aid will add to the more than $6 billion in security assistance already delivered to Ukraine.
‘Putin thought he could break the transatlantic alliance,’ Biden said.
‘He tried to weaken us. He expected our resolve to fracture but he’s getting exactly what he did not want.
‘He wanted the Finlandization of NATO. He got the NATOization.’
Prior to his flight to Spain, Biden landed in Europe on Saturday night for the G7 conference in Germany.
But during the trip, he only fielded a few questions from reporters.
He called on four reporters on a list on Thursday. Their names were on the list.
Officials from the White House had called members of the traveling press group to inquire about their questions, as has become standard procedure.
‘I’m supposed to go down the list here,’ said Biden as he called on Jim Tankersley of the New York Times.
He and other NATO leaders repeatedly said they would support Ukraine for as long as it took to defeat Russia.
‘I think we can all agree this has been a historic NATO summit,’ said Biden.
‘Before the war started I told Putin that if he invaded Ukraine NATO would not only get stronger, but it would get more united, and we would see democracies of the world stand up and oppose his aggression and defend the rules based order.
‘That is exactly what we are seeing today.’
Earlier, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Sweden and Finland will sign the alliance’s accession protocol on Tuesday – the next step to joining.
That must then be ratified by all 30 members for them to become members.