Congress splits over F-35 sale to Turkey
Parochial interests are undermining a united stance against Ankara in the US Senate.
Congress is hamstrung over what to do about the growing number of US grievances against Turkey.
Senate debate ahead of this week’s vote on annual defense legislation has laid bare deep divisions among lawmakers who broadly agree that Congress should push back against Ankara’s moves to imprison a US pastor and buy Russian weapons. The dispute is fueled in part by competing parochial interests pitting US defense industry jobs against human rights concerns, with a multibillion dollar deal to sell more than 100 F-35 jets to Turkey hanging in the balance.
Wary of Turkey’s impending purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system and its detention of pastor Andrew Brunson, senators have settled on compromise language that could pave the way for Ankara’s expulsion from the F-35 coproduction program while temporarily halting the transfer of the aircraft to the Turkish government. The provision falls short of the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act, which passed 351-66 last month with language mandating a temporary hold on all major defense sales to Turkey, including F-35 fighter jets.
Turkey’s toughest critics on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., sought to ban the F-35 transfers during the panel's closed-door markup of the bill last month. Brunson is a constituent of Tillis, who traveled to Turkey to attend the minister's trial earlier this year.
