A group including Greek, Armenian, Kurdish and Indian lobbies took action after Ankara approved Sweden’s bid for NATO membership and later sent a letter to congressional officials asking US President Joe Biden to sell F-16 fighter jets, according to reports from northern Iraqi media. .
Publika.az reports that the organizations demand that the USA prevent or control the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.
The group calling itself “No Jets For Turkey Coalition” (#NoJetsForTurkey) sent a letter to the heads of the foreign relations committees of both houses of the US federal parliament (Congress) (Senate and House of Representatives) and demanded a thorough review of the details of sending F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.
The letter was signed by the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), American Friends of Kurdistan (AFK), American Armenian National Committee (ANCA), Indian American Foundation (HAF), Christian Defense Organization (IDC) and Middle East Forum (MEF). Lobby organizations have accused Ankara of using the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership as a bargaining chip during negotiations with the US administration for the purchase of fighter jets. They called for “the creation of a mechanism that will be responsible for how Turkey uses these warplanes.”
“Turkey previously lent Azerbaijan American F-16s to attack Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as bombed our Kurdish partners in Syria, violated Greek airspace and used it to threaten Greek sovereignty,” the letter states.
Senators Ben Cardin, Jim Risch, and House members Mike McCaul and Gregory Meeks are considered to be influential figures in the deal. After the US State Department sends official notification to Congress about the sale, the Senate and the House of Representatives have 15 days to react for or against it.
C. Guliyev
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