think tank Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Working as a Middle East and Turkey policy expert Steven CookAbout the US sale of F-16s to Turkey, “This will be a longer process beyond the elections. I don’t think the administration wants to give Erdogan a victory before the elections or become a news item about the elections in Turkey,” he said. said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut CavusogluSecretary of State in Washington on January 18 Anthony BlinkenHe met with academics and business representatives from different think tanks at the Embassy residence.
Steven Cook, who attended the meeting, VOA Turkish‘s questions replied. Stating that he was pleased to be invited to the meeting, Cook said that in the speech of Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu, the USA showed optimism about the sale of F-16 warplanes and modernization kits to Turkey.
“There is general agreement that Turkey should buy the F-16”
Cook said that with this meeting, Çavuşoğlu tried to explain to a group of influential people that the relationship between the USA and Turkey continues to be important for the USA, despite its problems.“There is general agreement that Turkey should buy the F-16. At the broadest and most abstract level, I think this is probably true,” he said. said.
Steven Cook
“It is correct that the Finnish Foreign Minister proposed a break in negotiations”
cook, “It is clear that President Erdogan and AKP will greatly expand this week’s Qur’an burning before the elections. So there is a precedent for this. They based a large part of the 2019 local elections on the Christchurch massacre in New Zealand. So I think they will act on these identity issues and Finland. In my opinion, it is correct that the Minister of Foreign Affairs suggested that the negotiations be suspended. made a prediction.
“An extremely contentious election environment can be expected in Turkey”
According to Steven Cook, however, the urgency of expanding NATO to Sweden and Finland has passed. The reason for this is that the poor performance of Russia in Ukraine makes the security issue in Europe, excluding Ukraine, from being an emergency. For this reason, it can be expected that the negotiations will be interrupted and an extremely contentious election environment will pass in Turkey.
“I don’t think the administration wants to give Erdogan a victory before the elections or become a news item about the elections in Turkey,” he said.
For this reason, Steven Cook said that the White House will not enter into a “fight” with Congress on the sale of F-16s, Turkey or anything else, or with powerful members of Biden’s own party. “This will be a longer process beyond the elections. I don’t think the administration wants to give Erdogan a victory before the elections or become a news item about the elections in Turkey,” he said. said.