The US should take care to keep its relations between Ankara and Athens balanced, Türkiye’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
The US had “a balanced policy (in the relations between Türkiye and Greece). An ally like the US needs to pay attention to (preserve) these balances,” said Mevlut Cavusoglu, referring to media reports on the possible US sale of F-35 fighter jets to Athens, while speaking at a joint press conference with the foreign minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bisera Turkovic, in the capital Ankara.
Cavusoglu underlined that this balance had started to deteriorate, as had that between Turkish and Greek Cypriots on Cyprus.
Emphasizing that Ankara was not interested in “who is selling weapons to which side,” he said: “What matters to us is our strength, what we do, what steps we take for our interests. This is what matters to us.”
At an upcoming visit to Washington on Wednesday, Cavusoglu said he would hold the second ministerial-level meeting of the Türkiye-US Strategic Mechanism with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
In its efforts to procure new F-16 fighter jets and modernization kits, Ankara has reached “an agreement with the US administration in every sense. We expect it to pass (in Congress) uneventfully.”
If the US administration stands firm, “there will be no problem,” he said, adding: “We do not want to buy products from any country conditionally.”
Ankara’s pursuit of F-16 jets is “important not only for Türkiye but also for NATO,” he added.
The US State Department sent Congress its decision on the potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye for tiered review, sources told Anadolu on Friday.
The notification on the sale has been conveyed to the chairs and ranking members of relevant committees in the House of Representatives and Senate, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The State Department is expected to officially announce its notification next week. The congressional notification of the sales will start a 15-day window for lawmakers to raise objections.
Ankara requested F-16s and modernization kits in October 2021. The $6 billion deal would include 40 jets and modernization kits for 79 warplanes that the Turkish Air Force already has in its inventory.
Türkiye’s ties with Bosnia and Herzegovina
During the press conference, Cavusoglu also congratulated Bosnia and Herzegovina on being granted candidate status for EU membership, voicing Ankara’s “strong support” for the decision.
“I hope negotiations start as soon as possible and they (EU) won’t waste the time of Western Balkan countries as they did ours. As Türkiye, we also strongly support Bosnia-Herzegovina’s NATO membership,” said the Turkish foreign minister.
Cavusoglu went on to note that Türkiye was also one of the top countries contributing troops to the EU Peacekeeping Force (EUFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as Operation Althea.
“We continue to robustly support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he said.
Underlining that Ankara attaches “great importance to stability and peace” in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as in the rest of the Balkans region, he said: “This is not just a wish, we are taking concrete steps for the development, peace, tranquility, and stability of the Balkans.”
Cavusoglu also stressed that Türkiye is engaged equally in dialogue with Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, gaining the trust of all three groups. He also said this applied as well to Kosovo and Serbia, along with other Balkan nations.
He also said Ankara was pleased that the elections held in the country in early October took place in “a calm environment,” adding: “It is our greatest wish that a government be formed as soon as possible. I’d like to emphasize once again that we are against any kind of foreign intervention in this process.”
Seeking to boost Turkish investment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cavusoglu said Ankara had taken “firm steps” toward expanding their trade volume of $1 billion.
Noting that they had reached $945 million in 2022, he said the two countries would keep working this year to increase trade. Türkiye ranks second in Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of direct global investment.
Expressing Ankara’s expectations from Sarajevo in the fight against the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 coup bid in Türkiye, he said: “I would like to say with regret that we did not get the result we wanted from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the fight against FETO.”
He added that Ankara’s “greatest expectation from the government that will be formed from now on is to give us concrete support in the fight against FETO.”
For her part, Foreign Minister Turkovic highlighted the importance of Türkiye’s presence in the Western Balkans. “Without Türkiye, the Western Balkans could not live in peace,” she said
Ankara provided “great support” for Bosnia and Herzegovina to join NATO’s Membership Action Plan in 2010, she said, while also noting Türkiye’s role as the second-largest investor in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2021 and saying that this economic cooperation should also be further developed.
Asking Türkiye to continue its support for Bosnia and Herzegovina, she underlined that Ankara played an “extremely important role in the region.”
Approximately 5-6 million people of Balkan and Bosnia-Herzegovinian origin live in Türkiye, she said, calling this “a great wealth” that should not be neglected.
Source: Anadolu Agency