After Biden meeting with Erdogan, swift move from Greek lobby over F-16 sales to Turkey

After a meeting between President Erdogan and U.S. President Joe Biden, who met in Indonesia on occasion of G-20 sumit in Indonesia yesterday, the Greek lobby in Washington went into action.

US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who are on the Indonesian island of Bali for the G-20 Summit, met yesterday. While many issues from bilateral relations to the future of NATO were raised during the meeting, the F-16 fighter jets and modernization kits that Ankara has been asking for from Washington for some time were also raised.

“Biden told Erdogan that he would continue to support him in the process of purchasing F-16 fighter jets” the presidential statement said after the meeting that took place yesterday.

GREEK LOBBY IN WASHINGTON TAKES IMMEDIATE ACTION

After the meeting between Erdogan and Biden, a call came to the Biden administration from Washington. Hours after this announcement, the Greek lobby in Washington took action. A group of US figures led by Greek-born US politician Chris Pappas, who was re-elected in the midterm elections, wrote a very harsh letter decrying the sale of the F-16 to Turkey. Together with Pappas, more than 20 US representatives called on Congress to keep the phrase blocking the sale of F-16 and modernization kits to Turkey in the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDA) for the fiscal year 2023.