Turkey has appealed to the United States to expedite the sale of F-16s. Some U.S. officials hope the sale may persuade Ankara to drop its objections to NATO expansion, but a key senator strongly opposes it.

In a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he intended to discuss his country's request for upgraded versions of major F-16 fighters.

"As we said earlier, this is important not only for Turkey, but also for NATO and also for the United States," Cavusoglu said. "So we expect approval in line with our joint strategic interests."

The United States is finalizing a $20 billion package for Turkey that is expected to include about 40 new F-16 fighter jets.

The United States has been looking for ways to persuade Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to withdraw objections to Sweden's and Finland's admission to NATO. President Joe Biden announced his support for the sale of F-16s to Turkey.

Blinken, in a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, called Turkey a close ally and praised its role in talks with Ukraine and Russia to allow grain shipments from the world's key breadbasket.

But Senator Bob Menendez, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, vowed to block any sale.

In his remarks, Menendez said Erdogan's threats of a missile strike on Greece were "totally unacceptable," and condemned the political ban on the popular mayor of Istanbul, previously seen as Erdogan's main rival in the May election.

"He might be doing it out of spite. Or he might be doing it because he is a thug," Menendez said of Erdogan. "But one thing is clear—the United States must take the Turkish President’s actions seriously," he said, promising to detain the F-16s until Erdogan stops his campaign of aggression throughout the region.

State Department spokesman Ned Price, who was asked about Menendez's position, acknowledged resistance from lawmakers.

But Price noted that Congress was also united in its desire to see a way forward on NATO. The U.S. Congress strongly supports Finland and Sweden becoming new members of NATO, Price said.

Nevertheless, Price acknowledged concerns about Turkey's potential offensive against the Syrian Kurds, reconciliation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and human rights concerns.  " We remain deeply concerned by the continued judicial harassment of civil society, media, political and business leaders in Turkey," Price said.

Yet despite all these "concerns," Blinken said in a meeting with Cavusoglu that they are close allies and partners. That doesn't mean they don't have disagreements, but it's because we they allies and partners that they get over them.

The outcome of the meeting

According to a State Department report from the meeting, Blinken and Cavusoglu reaffirmed their commitment to a concrete and results-oriented, positive bilateral agenda. They discussed strengthening the U.S.-Turkish defense partnership, including the modernization of Turkey's F-16 fleet.

The sides emphasized their unequivocal support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity against Russia's unacceptable war and reaffirmed their support for finding a solution to end the war.

The two foreign ministers decided to increase coordination and cooperation to promote peace in the South Caucasus.

They also discussed ways to strengthen NATO coordination and solidarity in the face of current threats and challenges. The sides reaffirmed their long-standing commitment to collective defense as allies as well as to NATO's open door policy. They discussed the implementation of the trilateral memorandum signed by Finland, Sweden and Turkey to advance Finland and Sweden's application to join the NATO Alliance.

In addition, Blinken and Cavusoglu discussed the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean and Syria.

 Both sides endorsed the Climate and Energy Dialogue to improve energy security and move toward a cleaner energy future. They decided to continue their interaction under the auspices of the Strategic Mechanism to review progress and maintain the momentum of their positive bilateral agenda. Both sides welcome the increasing number of bilateral meetings, including summit meetings, under the auspices of the Strategic Mechanism.

Unreliable Partner

Ahead of the meeting, American Hellenic Institute (AHI) President Nick Larigakis wrote a letter to Blinken urging him to demand that Turkey withdraw its support for the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. The letter cites numerous examples of Erdogan's dangerous rhetoric, including his calls for an invasion of the Greek islands.

“Turkey is actively working against United States interests and values”, Larigakis wrote. “Appeasing a rogue dictator such as President Erdogan will not result in better behavior.”

In a statement to Reuters news agency, Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said that Erdogan's repeated attacks on Syrian Kurdish allies and continued flirtation with Russia, including the delay of Swedish and Finnish NATO membership, remain serious causes for concern. According to him, in order for Turkey to get the F-16s, they need assurances that these problems will be resolved.

The sale of F-16s now becomes another way for Ankara to make demands for more weapons and to try to exchange this sale for a waiver of its objections to Finland and Sweden joining NATO. NATO's founders probably never foresaw a situation in which an alliance member would become a dictatorship and then prevent democracies from joining, or in which a NATO member would openly oppose things like freedom of speech or democratic values and seek to trade membership for weapons. This puts the U.S. in a stalemate, writes Jpost.

The difficulty for the U.S. is that while some members of Congress are tired of Ankara's threats, many government officials see it as an imminent evil, a recalcitrant ally that is needed because of the shift in power in the world.

This political analysis sees Turkey as important because of its large economy and its "geopolitical" position, since it is physically located between Europe, Iran, and Russia. If Turkey were where Brazil is, this would not be a problem; it could continue to be anti-democratic and threaten the West, but it would not be "strategically" located next to Iran and Russia.