U.S. Ambassador to Turkiye, Jeffry L. Flake, met defence and diplomacy correspondents in Ankara before his return to U.S. Ambassador Flake made some remarks about U.S. Turkish relations and answered the Turkish media’s questions concerning Turkish-U.S. relations.
Ambassador Flake mentioned Repkon’s investment in Texas with General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS) regarding defence relations. Flake said, “ Watch some cut the ribbon on a new factory to make one of our 155 artillery shells in partnership with Repkon, and these are munition lines purchased directly from Repkon and shipped over, traded over to Texas. By this time next year, more than a third of all 155 artillery rounds that the U.S. produces will be of Turkish origin. “
Answering a question about Turkiye’s involvement in Somalia and U.S. Perspective, Flake said “With regard to Somalia, we see a Türkiye’s involvement there, and it’s very positive, and we have, I know there was just a call between Secretary Blinken and Hakan Fidan just a few days ago; this is one of the areas they discussed because Türkiye, convening very useful discussions in that conflict there. So we see that as positive likewise, in terms of Türkiye’s involvement all over Sub-Sahara Africa. China has traditionally been involved in sub-Sahara and Africa in front we’re offering investment that often leads those countries in a debt trap. And it hasn’t been positive for these countries, and Turkiye offers something different in many ways. Turkiye is involvement in Africa and doesn’t have the old colonial baggage that many European countries and others have, so we look at that as a positive wherever we could partner.
TurDef asked Turkiye’s F-16 Block 70 procurement and modernisaiton kit acquisition programme. The negotiations were supposed to be finalised by now but have not yet been finalised. Turkiye is also in negotiations with Eurofighter. Ambassador Flake has not answered questions concerning Eurofighter, and about F-16, he said, “I want to speak on the F-16 and the LOA signed. That allows Türkiye, and it was important that needed to be signed in early June. So all that the congressional notification and all those things have passed. That’s all done. What needed to happen is for this letter of agreement to be signed with Lockheed Martin and other suppliers, and now Türkiye will negotiate with them in terms of local content and industrialisation and how where some of the parts are manufactured and how they’re delivered and also which weapon systems will be, which version. So my understanding is that, the original agreement was for 40 new and 79 rebuilds, and that’s still, in fact, they’re still pushing towards those numbers but that there will still be negotiations between Türkiye and Lockheed Martin for a while. And some other suppliers to find out what local content there will be and now will be delivered.
When asked whether the negotations are about the systems to be installed, Flake said, “I think those discussions are still going out, but the LOA was signed in June. It allows those discussions to happen now. They couldn’t have happened before that. It was important to sign that LOA because you have to get in the production schedule for when the new ones will be produced and the old ones will be refurbished. So all of that is happening. There’s been someone who is saying, well. There’s a glitch, or it’s off track; it is not. It is moving forward.
The Russian S-400 air defence systems that Turkiye bought and the probable acquisition of the F-35 were brought into the agenda. Ambassador Flake said, “Our focus has been on the F-16, obviously, but we have always said consistently that we would love to have Turkiye again in a position to purchase the F-35. That’s going to be a decision, and whether Türkiye ends up back in the F-35 consortium is very much up to that decision. That is not just the U.S.; but they’re other consortium members. But before that happens, there must be a solution to the S-400 issue. If that issue changes, we can discuss it and decide about F-35s.
The U.S. has just approved a major arms sale to Israel. The sale totals more than $ 20 billion. Answering that arms sale, Flake said, “The bulk of the military sales are for defensive purposes. They are part of the iron dome. It was just announced another 20 billion, but that is so Israel can defend itself.” When TurDef asked whether 120 mm mortar and F-15 aircraft are for defensive measures, he said he was answering largely and had to check about procurement programme.
Ambassador Flake had mentioned the Montreux Convention twice during his speech. First, he mentioned the use of the Black Sea in his opening remarks. The second was when he answered a question about Russia’s involvement in the Black Sea. Both remarks were in positive terms. TurDef reminded the United States that it is not a signatory of the Montreux Convention and asked whether this stands as a temporary or permanent approach to the Convention. Ambassador Flake said, “We’re not a signatory to it and not only impacted.
Türkiye could limit access for belligerents in the war who are not belligerent in a war. However, Turkiye also asked NATO countries if they would refrain from putting additional assets in it; they wanted the Black Sea to be a sea of peace as much as possible. And we had all complied with that because we felt that it was such a good thing that they invoked Montreux to keep Russian military assets out, but I can’t speak to what will happen in the future that’s been a good thing for all of us to keep assets out of Black Sea.”
