Is the F-16 Crisis Overcome?

Do you think the US can be expected to behave like a principled state that stands by what it says? I think no. Let us not forget that principled state behaviour is an Afro-Eurasian state understanding in the old world island. The US, on the other hand, is a utilitarian, pragmatic state that sees all events and phenomena from a commercial perspective.  The USA approaches all events and phenomena as "what will it do, what will it benefit the USA". Why do I insist on saying this? The draft "National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA)", which includes the US defence budget of 858 billion dollars for 2023, has been adopted by the House of Representatives. In the NDAA bill, which was accepted by 350 votes against 80 and sent to the Senate for the final vote, the $ 54 million in the 'Fight Against ISIS Fund', which the Syrian PeKaKa will benefit from, and $ 35 million 811 in Iraq, were removed as unjustified. In addition, $18 million 368 thousand of the $183.7 million requested for Syria was deemed unjustified and not approved. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill in a short time and then send it to President Biden for his signature. (1)

But first of all, it must be said that in this budget, the very difficult conditions previously imposed on Turkey have been removed. The most important of these conditions is the clause "not to be used by Turkey against Greece".  Let us admit that this is an extremely important breakthrough. In fact, these conditions are the removal of the dam in front of the Lockheed Martin Company, the contractor of the F 16 tender, which has been engaged in a series of lobbying activities in Congress independently of Turkey, and let us say right away that they have been successful. Was this situation expected? Undoubtedly yes. So what is the meaning? It means that the obstacles in front of Turkey for the modernisation of the Turkish Air Force's F-16s and the purchase of new F-16s can now be said to be "non-existent". (2)

While the frictions continued, a letter sent from the US State Department to Congress on 17 March 2022 recorded the Biden administration's view that the sale of new generation F-16s to Turkey was in line with American interests and would strengthen NATO. Interestingly, this letter was sent by Naz Durakoğlu, Deputy Undersecretary for Legislative Affairs of the US State Department, of Turkish origin, to Frank Pallone, Member of the House of Representatives. (3)

The reason was clearly described in the article. What was it? It was the assessment that the Biden administration was aiming to strengthen its view on Turkey's role in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February and the sale of F-16s. After this letter, Greek Prime Minister Kiriakos made a trip to the United States.

Moreover, Greece justified its defence on the basis of anti-Turkey sentiment and handed over its country to the USA turnkey. So much so that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis went all the way to the US Congress and pleaded for Turkey not to be given F-16s.  Remember, during his 42-minute speech, the entire Congress, including the two female presidents, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Kamala Haris, the President of the Senate, rose from their seats 37 times and gave him a standing ovation. This included his entrance into the hall, his ascent to the podium and the conclusion of the speech. (4)

Don't you remember now, that marvellous session of euphoria and mobilisation? They almost had Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on his feet. Is that all? There is more. Apart from the meeting in the Oval Office, there was also a ceremony in the White House where speeches were made for Mitsotakis.  In this ceremony, the Archbishop of the Orthodox Churches of America Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey born in Bakırköy, was invited to the podium to deliver the opening speech and prayer, and the Archbishop concluded his speech by emphasising that "Democracy is Greece's gift to the world" and ended his speech in Greek with the words "Zito i Ameriki, Zito i Ellada" (Long live America, Long live Greece). (5) However, all this was just and only a typical American show of flattery. However, we all saw together that what was supposed to happen unfolded in a different way.

First of all, it must be recognised that the USA is a "mercantilist" state, founded by merchants to market the products of large farm owners to the world. What does this mean? Subjective values such as "homeland and nation" have no value in the USA, these words do not work in this state, first and foremost the "pocket", always the pocket, in other words, trade is considered. They think of money.  Let us say right away that the merchants frequently mentioned in the USA are not the usual shopkeepers of the 'Bazaar-Market Tradesmen'. These are generally rich and powerful families that dominate multinational companies with a worldwide international trade network. When we look from the past to the present, it is a group of people who generally own their own merchant ships and hold tea, slaves and all other trade channels in their hands.

You want an example, here is an example: For example, the 'New England Merchants', that is, the northern colonies named 'Yankee' were the most abundant harbouring these merchant families. By the way, it is interesting to say that, unbelievably, the only luxury of the poor people at the time of the tea trade was to drink tea, just like us... The poor people were tested on whether they could or could not drink tea. The second group is what we call the gentry, the 'Big Plantation Owners' who describe themselves as 'Plantation Owners'. If you search the internet, you can find many sources under this description. They are wealthy southern slave labourer families who describe themselves as 'blue blood', so-called noble. They have nothing to do with aristocracy, they have only managed to become bourgeois over the centuries. The owners of these plantations, which produced products to be sold in international overseas markets, were naturally intertwined with merchant families at that time. Marriages and commercial agreements between these two family groups were the icing on the cake.

Incidentally, these families were very important in cotton and sugar cane production. They fulfilled an important function of the world, first of all, they clothed the world and sweetened it by putting a spoonful of sugar cane in their mouths. In other words, they had the pleasure of drinking their tea with sugar cane. Nowadays, these families are integrated into the bourgeoisie of the energy and arms industries. The third leg of the administration or this trivet is the administrators. In the early days, the administrators were those who came to power through the votes of the property owners and were assigned to protect the colonies against French, Spanish and Indian attacks. Of course, their importance was considerable, but certainly not as great as the other two major groups that dominated the economy. Other social groups consisted mainly of middle-class shopkeepers, small farmers and slaves. Here is a summary of the social structure of the USA.

I think that, from a utilitarian point of view, the matter should now be quite clear. According to the Financial Times, Middle East Eyes, Expat Guide Turkey, Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the F-16, has already upgraded 83 Greek F-16s to the Block 72 configuration, making them the most advanced F-16s in Europe. Athens has already received the first two of these modernised jets on 12 September. This is how important modernisation is. It is a work against time. If Turkey's F-16 requests remain stuck in the US, Greece will have a much more advanced F-16 fleet, a significant number of state-of-the-art F-35s and Rafale aircraft by the second half of the 2020s. (2)

If there are no new obstacles and Biden signs and concludes the process, Turkey will receive 40 new block 70 F-16s, as well as refurbishment "kits" that will enable Turkey to upgrade 80 of the 240 block 50 F-16s to block 70. In short, Turkey will be able to continue its air superiority as before with a total of 150 block 70 level "F-16 vipers", which Turkish Air Force pilots are most accustomed to in terms of ergonomics and can use with great skill.

Let us now turn to the issue of the possible veto of Senator Bob Menendez, the Cuban-born Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on the sale and modernisation of F-16s to Turkey.  Let us not forget that the US, founded by merchants, is also a country of negotiations. The US establishment is capable of overcoming the Menendez obstacle very easily if it wishes. Let's see if Senator Lindsay Graham, the Great Opponent, is mentioned nowadays. Because every person in the USA has a valid purchasing parity and shelf life. Senator Graham, who came to Turkey in July 2022 and immediately afterwards went to YPG Leader Mazlum Apti for a one-day visit, said "I will do everything I can to support the Biden Administration's decision to sell F-16s to the Turkish Air Force" even before he finished his visit to Turkey. Graham also consolidated his positive stance on the sale of F-16 fighter jets by saying, "These fighter jets in the hands of our NATO allies will create a sense of stability and provide the Turkish military with capabilities that are certainly in America's national security interests" (6).

The biggest factor in the anti-Turkey stance of Menendez, who is of Cuban origin, is the influence of the Armenian lobby in the USA on his wife of Armenian origin. Menendez's wife, who is a problem today, actually provides the advantage herself. The US Attorney General's Office for the Southern District of New York is conducting a comprehensive investigation into Menendez and his wife Nadine Arslanian. Dating back to 2019, Federal Investigators are investigating whether Nadine Arslanian accepted gifts or services in exchange for Bob Menendez's favours. The most prominent issue is the Menendez favour in a document received by a company exporting halal meat to Egypt. (7)

In other words, this is not the first time Menendez, who has been accused of corruption many times, has been accused. What can we say, there is no smoke where there is no fire, Menendez is in the hands of the establishment. For this reason, the Menendez obstacle on the F-16 issue will be easily overcome, don't worry.

After all this, I would like to say that Turkish-American relations, especially in the last 20 years, have experienced many ebbs and flows according to the developing regional and global events and the nature of bilateral relations. This is true. In particular, the strategic alliance relationship brought about by the NATO alliance was shaken by Turkey's non-participation in the war launched by the US in Iraq in 2003 and its refusal to allow Turkey to use its territory. Only five years after the serious crisis between 2013 and 2018, the concept of a 'model partnership' between Turkey and the US was put forward by then US President Barack Obama, who visited Ankara.

Among the issues that the two sides particularly focused on were the US support for the Syrian PeKaKaKaKa, the YPG, under the name of the 'Syrian Democratic Forces', Turkey's purchase and deployment of S-400 air defence systems from Russia, the US ignoring Turkey's extradition requests for Fethullah Gülen, and the US's accusations of human rights violations against Turkey. What needs to be done between Turkey and the US is to restore the long-standing historical partnership and alliance and repair the deteriorated relations. It is considered a great possibility that the positive trend that started with the F-16 and the parties will continue to emphasise cooperation on regional issues, especially Ukraine, instead of escalating the problems.

Just as the very difficult conditions imposed on Turkey regarding the F-16 issue were abolished in the National Defence Authorisation Act that entered into force in January 2023, the US is expected to remain indifferent to the TAF-backed SMO operation against Tel Rifaat, Manbij and Ayn al-Arab (Kobani), as stated in the special report of the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar with the sanctions of the US Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) of 2017. It is obvious that the immediate establishment of a 20-mile (32 km) uninterrupted security strip from Idlib, which Turkey has put forward as a survival problem, to the Qandil triangle on the Iran-Iraq-Turkey border crossing the Syria-Iraq border will contribute to the security of the EU and NATO. The southernmost tip of both the EU and NATO against terrorism is this security strip that Turkey has raised with its fingernails, dear readers. 

References:

(1) “PKK Fonuna 54 Milyon Dolar Eksik”, Yeni Şafak Gazetesi, 10 Aralık 2022, s.14

(2) Güneri Civaoğlu, “Hikâyenin sonu mu?”, Milliyet Gazetesi, 8 Aralık 2022; https://www.milliyet.com.tr/yazarlar/guneri-civaoglu/hikayenin-sonu-mu-6869173/Erişim Tarihi 10.12.2022/

(3) BBC News Türkçe, F-16: ABD Dışişleri Bakanlığı'nın Kongre'ye gönderdiği mektup ne anlama geliyor?7 Nisan 2022; https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-dunya-61022790/Erişim Tarihi 11.12.2022/

(4) Sedat Ergin, “Miçotakis’in ABD Kongresi’nde 37 kez alkışlandığı konuşmasını izlediğimde...” Hürriyet Gazetesi, 26 Mayıs 2022; https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/sedat-ergin/micotakisin-abd-kongresinde-37-kez-alkislandigi-konusmasini-izledigimde-42070272/ Erişim Tarihi 10.12.2022/

(5) Sedat Ergin, “Miçotakis’in ABD Kongresi’nde 37 kez alkışlandığı konuşmasını izlediğimde...” Hürriyet Gazetesi, 26 Mayıs 2022; https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/sedat-ergin/micotakisin-abd-kongresinde-37-kez-alkislandigi-konusmasini-izledigimde-42070272/ Erişim Tarihi 10.12.2022/

(6) “ABD'li Senatör'den F-16 mesajı: Elimden gelen her şeyi yapacağım”, cumhuriyet.com.tr, 04 Temmuz 2022; https://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/turkiye/abdli-senatorden-f-16-mesaji-elimden-gelen-her-seyi-yapacagim-1954304/ Erişim Tarihi 10.12.2022/

(7) Özay Şendir, “F-16’larda Menendez engeli kolay aşılır.” İnce Ayar, Milliyet Gazetesi, s.9