Turkish FM travels to Washington seeking to seal deal for F-16 fighter jets
Mevlut Cavusoglu’s meeting with Antony Blinken comes as Washington reportedly ties warplane deal to NATO expansion.
ISTANBUL — Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu travels to Washington this week hoping to smooth the passage of a request for reinforcing the country’s F-16 fighter fleet amid heightened tensions with neighbor Greece.
Ankara has long been seeking to update its air defenses and had hoped that participation in the US-led development of the fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighter would fulfill its needs. However, in response to Turkey’s acquisition of Russian-made air defense missiles, it was kicked off the F-35 project in 2019.
