London, Wednesday, 01 June 2022
During an annual meeting in New York on Tuesday, US Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat and head of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, reiterated his opposition to the sale of military weapons to Turkey.
"I find it very difficult to agree on the sale of other military equipment to Turkey," he stated at the Mediterranean Business Summit headlined "Investing for peace, stability, and pluralistic growth," referring to Turkey's proposal to refurbish its F-16 fighter jets and upgrade its fleet.
He also stated that he believes Turkey will "in the end of the day remove the impediments" to Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
Menendez said that despite being a NATO ally, Turkey "continues to pose a threat to stability and prosperity" in the Eastern Mediterranean, and that it is challenging Greek sovereignty "with provocative overflights," while calling all violations of Greek airspace by Turkish fighter jets "unacceptable."
Turkey, according to Menendez, is eroding NATO unity at an inopportune time. "Ties with Turkish president Erdogan are difficult; they are not the relations we expected," he said, emphasising the importance of "making it clear to Turkey that there would be consequences" for violations of international law and "overflights in the Aegean."
(Report by: The Decision Maker – International Relations editors London)
(Picture by: Wikimedia Commons)