US plans to sell fighter jets to Turkey

(CNN) — After President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed off on Sweden's accession to NATO on Thursday, ending more than a year of quiet and complicated negotiations, the Biden administration informed Congress of its intention to sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.

The State Department sent Congress a notice of the proposed $23 billion sale on Friday. The State Department also sent Congress formal notice of its willingness to sell $8.6 billion worth of F-35s to Greece. Congress is expected to approve both sales.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken had been working for months with Turkish officials and US lawmakers to reach an agreement to end Erdogan's ban on Sweden's NATO candidacy.

When Sweden first asked to join the defense alliance, along with Finland, in May 2022, Turkey tried to engage the United States directly in negotiations, a move the U.S. rejected, a U.S. official said. However, the administration knew that the US had a key support point, the F-16s, if needed.

After Turkey approved Finland's accession in March 2023, Blinken worked hard behind the scenes to secure Sweden's approval ahead of last summer's NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

During a trip to Turkey in February 2023, Blinken met with Erdogan, who stressed the need for the United States to provide Turkey with F-16s before approving Sweden's entry into the alliance. Blinken repeatedly told the Turkish president that members of Congress would not approve the sale of the jets until Turkey allowed Sweden to join NATO.

It was then, according to the US official, that the administration decided to use the reactors directly. The process moved quickly with the appointment of Hakan Fidan as the Turkish Foreign Minister. Fidan was seen as having a closer relationship with Erdogan than his predecessor. Blinken and Fidan met on the sidelines of a conference in London in late June 2023 to hammer out the details of a potential deal.

After that meeting, Blinken discussed the matter with then-Senate Foreign Affairs Chairman Robert Menendez, who had long opposed selling the planes to Turkey, and other members of Congress. The New Jersey senator and others made it clear they wanted Greece's support. Blinken held detailed talks with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to discuss what Greece should be comfortable with if Turkey gets the flights. Turkey and Greece have an incredibly tense relationship.

After those initial months of negotiations, the first hurdle was lifted in Vilnius, when Erdogan publicly pledged to push ahead with Sweden's accession.

A serious effort turned to ensuring that the Turkish parliament voted in favor of the merger. Blinken and Fidan spoke weekly throughout the fall and winter as the U.S. worked to secure the deal, according to the U.S. official. The US top diplomat spoke to the Greek prime minister half a dozen times. He spoke at length with Menendez and his successor, Senator Ben Cardin, as well as the heads of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The Turkish parliament finally voted in favor of Sweden joining NATO on Tuesday, and Erdogan signed the ratification documents on Thursday.

On Friday the documents were sent from Turkey to the United States for physical deposit in the State Department's vault, which acts as the depository of the treaty for NATO.

This is the last necessary step before the agency sends formal notices of F-16 sales to Congress. The US official said he would assure Congress there was no way Turkey would back out of the deal.

Hungary still needs to ratify Sweden's NATO candidacy.