US President Joe Biden has congratulated his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on his re-election as the two leaders also discussed issues like Turkey buying F-16 fighter jets and Sweden joining NATO.
In Monday’s phone exchange, Erdogan repeated Ankara’s desire to buy the US-made aircraft, while Biden told him Washington wanted Ankara to drop its objection to Sweden becoming a member of the transatlantic military alliance, according to the president of the United States.
“I spoke to Erdogan. I congratulated Erdogan. He still wants to work on something on the F-16s. I told him we wanted a deal with Sweden, so let’s get that done. And so we’ll be back in touch with one another,” Biden told reporters at the White House.
Asked if he expected any movement from Erdogan on Sweden’s NATO membership, Biden said: “I raised that issue with him. We’re going to talk more about it next week.”
Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership last year. Bids for membership must be approved by all NATO members. Finland joined the US-led alliance last month, but Sweden’s membership has been held up by objections from Turkey and Hungary.
Credit: aljazeera.com
