In a meeting with his American counterpart, the Turkish Foreign Minister, while emphasizing that the two issues of buying fighter jets from the United States and the two countries joining NATO, are not related, said that Ankara expects this sale to be approved.

Iran PressAmerica: Turkey has been demanding the purchase of F-16 fighter jets from America for a long time. A few days ago, the Wall Street Journal, quoting American officials, reported that the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey was conditional upon Ankara's agreement with Finland and Sweden joining NATO.

Turkey on Wednesday urged the Biden administration to be decisive in its bid to sell F-16 warplanes to Turkey and convince the U.S. Congress to drop its opposition to a planned $20 billion deal.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Washington he had told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Turkey dropping its objections to Sweden and Finland joining NATO should not be a precondition for the F-16 sale.

The United States is finalizing a $20 billion package for Turkey that is expected to include around 40 new F-16 fighter jets.

The sale would be simultaneous with a deal for top-of-the-line F-35 jets for Greece, Turkey's historic rival with which tensions have risen sharply over disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean. 219