"Talks on the acquisition of the F-16s continue. (…) We have a meeting on August 15: we were invited to the United States," Hulusi Akar said during a conference in Ankara without specifying who made the invitation.
He added, however, that he continues to reject the conditions set by the US Congress for selling these aircraft to Turkiye. US lawmakers asked Turkiye to refrain from military action against Greece and supported Greek claims about the airspace. "We cannot accept these conditions. We hope they will be removed from the Senate," Akar added.
Turkiye wants to acquire 40 F-16 Block 70 fighter planes and spare parts necessary for the maintenance and modernization of the F-16s it already has.
US President Joe Biden supported delivering F-16s to Turke during his meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the NATO summit in June in Madrid.
"Mr Biden's approach was very positive in Madrid," Akar recalled.
