US President Joe Biden has “thankedhis Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday June 29 during a bilateral meeting, for having lifted his blockage to Finland and Sweden joining NATO.
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“I want to thank you for what you have done to fix the situation with Sweden and Finland and for the incredible job you are doingto get cereals out of Ukraine, he told the Turkish president, seated next to him, during a short speech to the press on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid. A little earlier, a senior Pentagon official, Celeste Wallander, had assured, in response to a long-standing request from Ankara, that the United States “fully support Turkey’s modernization of its F-16 fleet“.
Before leaving for Madrid, President Erdogan stressed that the “most important topicbetween Ankara and Washington wasthat of the F-16“, in reference to the fighter jets ordered and partially paid for by Ankara, but whose delivery contract was suspended by Washington after Turkey acquired a Russian S-400 defense system. Washington, however, assured not to have made any particular concession for Turkey to lift its veto concerning the enlargement of NATO.
SEE ALSO – After Turkey’s agreement, NATO intends to “invite” Sweden and Finland to join it