US President Joe Biden announced a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in which the re-elected Turkish leader reiterated Ankara’s desire to buy F-16 fighter jets from the United States, while Washington told him it wanted Ankara to drop its objections to Sweden’s entry in NATO, reports Reuters.

“I spoke with Erdogan. I congratulated Erdogan. He still wants to decide something about the F-16. I told him that we want to understand about Sweden, so let’s work it out. And so we will continue to reconnect with each other. “, Joe Biden told reporters before leaving the White House for Delaware.

“We will talk more about this next week,” the US president added.

Sweden’s accession to NATO must be ratified by all NATO members. Both Turkey and Hungary have not yet agreed to this candidacy.

Turkey sought to buy F-16s and nearly 80 upgrade kits worth $20 billion from the United States, but the sale was blocked by the U.S. Congress over concerns about Ankara’s rights, human rights and Syria policy, although the Biden Administration has repeatedly said it supports provision of aircraft to Turkey.

A much smaller $259 million package, which included software upgrades for Turkey’s current fleet of F-16 fighter jets, was approved by the US Congress earlier this year, days after Turkey ratified Finland’s accession to NATO.

On the other hand, the Biden administration has repeatedly rejected the thesis that it will act “quid pro quo” on the sale of F-16 and the expansion of NATO, although Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said in January that the American side did it. It is clear that the approval of NATO candidacies will be perceived positively by Congress.

In a February letter to Biden, a bipartisan group of senators said Turkey’s refusal to ratify the then-pending protocols of accession to Sweden and Finland would “call into question this stalled sale,” referring to the F-16s.

A source familiar with the discussions said the United States had previously told Turkey it would be difficult to get congressional approval for the F-16 unless Ankara gave Sweden the green light.

Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership last year, abandoning their military non-alignment policy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Turkey ratified Finland’s NATO membership in late March, but continued to oppose Sweden’s candidacy, saying Stockholm harbors members of militant groups it considers terrorist. Like Turkey, Hungary did not approve Sweden’s candidacy.

Sweden’s accession to NATO by mid-July, when the Alliance summit is scheduled in Lithuania, is one of Washington’s top priorities.

The Turkish presidency, in a brief statement on the call between Biden and Erdogan, said the two leaders agreed to deepen cooperation in all aspects of their bilateral ties, which they said had become even more important in the face of challenges in the region. and global.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won a new, third presidential term on Sunday, extending his third decade in power in Ankara.