U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will host Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Washington on Wednesday, a belated official visit by Turkey's top diplomat that will focus on the potential sale of F-16 fighter jets and Ankara's refusal to green light NATO membership for Sweden and Finland.
The two foreign ministers have met before on the sidelines of NATO summits and United Nations meetings but it took the Biden administration almost two years to extend an official invite to Cavusoglu, a delay that many analysts say reflects a strained relationship.
The countries are also at odds over Turkey's desire to carry out a military operation into Syria and its intent to normalize ties with Damascus. For its part, Turkey demands Washington not support the Syrian Kurdish militia that it sees as terrorists. The U.S. lawmakers objecting to the sale cite Turkey's deteriorating human rights track record and Syria policy. But recently, Ankara's refusal to ratify NATO membership of Sweden and Finland is emerging as a more central reason in their opposition.
The two Nordic states applied for NATO membership last year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine but their bids need approval from all 30 NATO member states. Turkey and Hungary have yet to endorse the applications. On Tuesday, Finland said it hoped the Turkish foreign minister's trip to the United States this week would help clear the way for it and Sweden to join the alliance.Last week, the U.S. State Department informally notified the committees overseeing arms sales in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives of its intention to proceed with the $20 billion sale of F-16s to Turkey.
He added he hoped the F-16 deal would not become "hostage" to the NATO memberships of Sweden and Finland.
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