World Nuclear News Feb. 4, 2022 A cargo ship carrying materials and equipment for the Akkuyu nuclear power plant – including the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) for unit 2 – has arrived from Russia at the construction site on the southern coast of Turkey. The RPV is now in storage onsite awaiting installation later this year. The ship left St Petersburg in northwest Russia on 23 November and, after sailing more than 9000 kilometres, has now arrived at the Eastern Cargo Terminal Vostochny at the Akkuyu construction site. Among its cargo was the RPV for unit 2 as well as sections of the second tier of inner containment for unit 3, pipes and other equipment and materials. The steel RPV – 12 metres in height, 4.5 metres wide and weighing 334 tonnes – has been unloaded and placed in a temporary storage place, where it will be subject to an inspection. “Production and delivery of the main equipment for Akkuyu NPP are carried out precisely in accordance with the planned schedule,” said Sergey Butckikh, first deputy CEO and director of NPP construction at Akkuyu Nükleer AŞ. Manufacture of the RPV for Akkuyu 2 began at Izhorskiye Zavody in March 2019. The RPV for unit 1 was delivered to the construction site in November 2020 and installed in June last year. The production of the RPV for unit 3 continues at the Volgodonsk branch of AEM-Technologies JSC of Atommash, part of Atomenergomash, the machine production division of Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom. Rosatom is building four VVER-1200 reactors at Akkuyu, under a so-called BOO (build-own-operate) model. Construction of the first unit began in 2018, with startup planned for 2023. The 4800 MWe plant is expected to meet about 10% of Turkey’s electricity needs. Turkey’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority has approved the manufacture of the power unit electrical equipment instrumentation and control for Akkuyu units 1 and 2, Rosatom noted.
Category: 2022
Crisis-hit Turkey survives as an extension of China
Asia Times [Turkey is weathering the storm of a catastrophic currency crisis through tighter trade integration with China] Note: the article has many charts, not shown here. By David P Goldman February 4, 2022 NEW YORK – Despite a catastrophic currency devaluation and 50% annual inflation as of December, Turkish manufacturing is booming and exports have risen by more than half from pre-pandemic levels. A real economic boom in the midst of financial disaster is puzzling, but there’s a simple explanation: Turkish manufacturing doesn’t have much to do with Turkey. It buys Chinese capital equipment and semi-finished goods and sells the finished products to Europe. Turkey has found a niche in the fast-growing trade relationship between Europe and China as a producer of steel products, chemicals, household appliances and other goods, concentrating on more labor-intensive and environmentally problematic industries. Its economic dependence on China has increased significantly. This helps explain why Turkey eschewed American efforts for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics to protest against China’s treatment of its Uighur minority, even though the Uighurs speak a Turkish dialect and have strong cultural and religious ties to Turkey. Mao Zedong might have said that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun, but for Xi Jinping, it is more likely to grow out of the door of a shipping container. China’s imports from the rest of Asia have nearly tripled during the past five years, prompting 15 Asian countries including Australia to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership with China – but not the United States. That was an important Chinese diplomatic victory. Now, a quantum jump in Sino-Turkish trade is likely to enhance China’s political influence in Western Asia. Turkey’s surprising resilience is yet another expression of the Sino-forming of the world economy. China’s robust supply chains support not only China’s remarkable trade performance, but move the trade of its Asian neighbors into a tightly-integrated commercial nexus. The Turkish lira has fallen by more than 50% against the US dollar since 2018, and the cost of production against default on its foreign-currency debt is more than 5 percentage points, compared to 2 percentage points for Brazil. Nonetheless, Turkey has managed to more than double its imports from China in the past two years. Turkey runs a trade deficit, so it has to borrow in order to buy more foreign goods. Turkey’s official data show little increase in foreign debt, but the triangular trade among China, Turkey and Europe allows ways to keep trade credits off the official balance sheet. Turkey imports in order to export. Consumption and other goods imports fell during 2021, while imports of intermediate and capital goods rose, supporting a 32% overall rise in exports. The Turkish Statistical Institute’s breakdown of trade by country shows that the lion’s share of the increase in imports came from Russia – mainly due to higher energy prices – and China. The export picture is markedly different. Europe accounted for more than half the 2021 increase in Turkish exports. Turkish industrial companies who benefit from this trade boom earn foreign currency by exporting and paying for their imports with foreign currency. The value of the Turkish currency is of secondary importance to them. That explains why the stock prices of Turkish industrial companies rose as the Turkish lira fell, that is, remained stable in terms of US dollars. Turkish stock prices are a secondary concern for the Recep Tayyip Erdogan government. The market capitalization of the Istanbul 100 Index is less than US$40 billion. The dollar value of Turkey’s housing stock, the main repository of middle-class wealth, exceeds $700 billion, I calculated in a 2020 study. Erdogan’s low interest-rate policy sunk the Turkish lira, but Turkish home prices have more than kept pace with inflation. That is key to President Erdogan’s political staying power. Unlike the Latin American and African devaluations of the past generation, the collapse of the lira did not take down with it the wealth of the middle class and industrial investors. Tensions between China and Turkey flare up periodically over the Uighur problem. Religious conservatives in Erdogan’s Justice and Freedom Party complain about China’s forced assimilation of Muslims into secular Chinese culture, and the nationalist Gray Wolves movement occasionally breaks the window of a Chinese restaurant in Istanbul. But President Erdogan wants to stay in power, and China controls the means by which Erdogan can do so, namely Turkish economic growth, jobs and asset prices. American strategists who hope that Turkey will provide a counterweight to growing Chinese and Russian influence in Western Asia may be spinning their wheels. Without China, Turkey’s economy would be a Venezuelan-style shambles, and that gives China enormous pull in Ankara.
Deans Fired at Turkish University
Inside Higher Education By Jack Grove Feb. 4, 2022 [Incidents raise concerns about academic freedom and political interference.] The firing of three elected deans from Boğaziçi University, a research university in Turkey, could signal a renewed attack on institutional autonomy and freedom of speech in Turkey’s universities, scholars have warned. The dismissal of Özlem Berk Albachten, Metin Ercan and Yasemin Bayyurt by Turkey’s Higher Education Council (YOK) follows a tumultuous year at the leading Istanbul university, which has been riven by student protests since a loyalist to the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was installed as rector in January 2021. Since the appointment from outside Boğaziçi of Melih Bulu, a member of Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party who was accused of plagiarizing his Ph.D., more than 600 student protesters have been arrested, and some of them face jail sentences of more than 30 years. It is believed that the deans were made redundant because of their support for academics who criticized the appointment of Bulu—who was later dismissed. Scholars have held a daily vigil to protest against his successor, Naci Inci, another Erdoğan supporter. Their dismissal follows a sustained attack on academic freedom within Turkish universities in the wake of the attempted coup in 2016. In the years since that putsch, more than 6,000 academics have been sacked, and about 3,000 schools and universities have been closed over alleged links to the movement led by exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen. Several émigré Turkish scholars told Times Higher Education, however, that the most recent sackings at Boğaziçi were particularly troubling because they signaled that even mild political dissent would not be tolerated within universities. “This latest event makes many educators like me hesitate to return and work in Turkey,” explained Boğaziçi graduate Elif Balin, now an assistant professor at San Francisco State University. “This constant attack on institutional independence, academic freedom, job security and the right to peaceful protest, along with filling administrative and academic positions with nonelected and partisan members, makes many people—especially young people in Turkey—question the quality of their education and diminishes their hope for the future.” “It is utterly heartbreaking and depressing to see my alma mater being attacked, dismantled and slowly torn into pieces,” said Devrim Umut Aslan, a lecturer at Lund University in Sweden. Staff and students at Boğaziçi have protested against the latest dismissals, which Taner Bilgiç, a member of the executive board, described as seeming “more like a punishment given out to a university that has been standing up for its academic freedom and institutional autonomy for the past year.” Zeynep Gambetti, associate professor in political science at Boğaziçi, said the removal of three deans who had fought to ensure that scholarly excellence trumped party loyalty would give the new president a “free hand in filling the university with below-par academics and in dismissing or crowding out critical faculty members.” “Boğaziçi is sure to lose its stature as a center of excellence and will become, like other universities in Turkey, an institution where fear and self-censorship are rampant,” he said. “Things are looking very grim at the moment,” added Olcay Atik, a chemistry undergraduate, who is facing disciplinary action for protesting. “With the removal of the three deans our academicians voted in, we are expecting a huge number of students to be wrongfully punished with little to no evidence … as deans get to make the final decisions.” However, Gürkan Kumbaroğlu, vice rector at Boğaziçi, contested the version of events put forward by the deans, stating that the university was “committed wholeheartedly to academic freedom and will always be in the vanguard of its defense.” “However, academic freedom is not coterminous with pursuing a clandestine political agenda” and “with any freedom, there comes responsibility,” he told Times Higher Education. The three deans did “not hold their positions by virtue of a popular democratic mandate,” contended Kumbaroğlu, who said that “by law, they are appointed to their post on the basis of a contract with the university by [Turkey’s Higher Education Council],” which decided that “they had committed serious infractions resulting in clear breaches of their professional and academic obligations.” The academics declined to take part in an investigation and did not submit representations in their defense, he added. “They have, therefore, not been removed due to a putative assault on academic freedoms; indeed, we contend there is no evidence for this,” said Kumbaroğlu. “They have been dismissed due to serious failures on their part in fulfilling their duties—it is unfortunate and inaccurate, therefore, that they wish to frame this as a political grievance.”
‘Normal’ ties with Turkey viewed with scepticism by residents of the Armenian capital
France24 'Normal' ties with Turkey viewed with scepticism by residents of the Armenian capital There is a 1-minute video with this by Shona Bhattacharyya, FRANCE 24's special correspondent at the memorial to the victims of the 1915 genocide in Yerevan, Armenia. © FRANCE 24 Feb. 4, 2022 Special envoys from Turkey and Armenia will hold a second round of talks in Vienna later this month to normalise ties after decades of animosity. The day after direct flights re-started between Yerevan and İstanbul, FRANCE 24's Turkey correspondents Shona Bhattacharyya and Ludovic de Foucaud traveled to the Armenian capital to find out what residents there think of the thawing of relations. Shoppers and vendors who would agree to speak on camera are few and far between. Many are angry that Armenia's prime minister Nikol Pashinyan accepted Turkey's invitation to talk without first recognising what Armenia calls the 1915 genocide. As Haïg, one Yerevan resident said, "Opening the borders is mostly for encouraging economic development. But building a more fraternal relationship, no, that's out of the question. An Armenian proverb says, 'If your enemy becomes your friend, you should still keep a stick in your hand.'" As part of the former Soviet empire, Armenia's economy is still largely dependent on Russia. Half of its citizens live in poverty, according to the World Bank. Dikran Altun, a Turkish Armenian, and founder of a now bankrupt airline, is cautiously optimistic about the possibility of stronger ties. "One of the ways to give more proper life to the people is to have some connections with Turkey. It's one of the ways; it's not the only way but [up] until now we had no connections and people are living like this..." he said. Overlooking the city is a memorial to the victims of the events of 1915. Although the Armenian government is in favour of stronger ties with Turkey, starting with trade, on the street the most important ingredient for normalisation remains elusive: trust. And without trust, reconciliation is highly unlikely.
TURKISH press: Shopkeepers in Yerevan expect more tourists as flights from Istanbul resume
Rabia İclal Turan |04.02.2022
YEREVAN, Armenia
As reciprocal charter flights between Turkiye and Armenia resume, shopkeepers in Yerevan’s touristic open-air market are hopeful about the return of tourists.
Nazar Aroyan is a middle-aged Syrian-Armenian, who had to flee his hometown Aleppo in Syria due to civil war, and has been living in Armenia for six years.
Speaking fluent Turkish, Aroyan said he had a flourishing business in Syria before the war.
Now selling silver jewelry in the Vernissage Market, a flea market in the Armenian capital, he said direct flights between Turkiye and Armenia is a “good decision.”
“When the tourists come, business increases, and we win,” he added.
“I hope we will be friends again and reconcile. Flights strengthen the friendship between people,” he said.
Zorik Galitsyan, 40, who sells duduk, a type of flute, in the market is also hopeful about the resumption of flights.
Although mobility will increase in terms of tourism, he said, there were already people coming and going between Turkiye and Armenia before the flights resumed.
“My view as a citizen is like this: if our government says it is good for our state to open the borders, let it be,” he said.
“But since I am not an expert in economics, I cannot say for sure what the opening of the borders will bring.
“We are not hostile. We are a nation who loves peace,” he added.
Vernissage is one of the largest open-air markets in Yerevan, mainly attracting tourists where they can purchase a variety of gifts from clothing to paintings, and from silver jewelry to musical instruments and souvenirs.
Reciprocal charter flights were relaunched Wednesday between Istanbul and Yerevan amid talks between Turkiye and Armenia to normalize relations.
The two neighboring countries have seen many difficulties in their diplomatic relations since Yerevan’s declaring independence in 1991, and the border between the two countries remained closed since 1993.
Turkiye and Armenia are at odds over various issues, including the incidents of 1915.
The two countries signed the “Zurich protocols” in 2009 in an attempt to normalize relations, which failed to be ratified at the national parliaments.
The bilateral relations, however, have gained a new dimension toward normalization recently, with Turkish and Armenian special envoys, Serdar Kilic and Ruben Rubinyan, holding their first meeting in Moscow on Jan. 14, where both sides agreed to continue negotiations without preconditions aiming at “full normalization.”
Asbarez: NAASR to Host Webinar on ‘Medieval Armenia In Los Angeles: Manuscripts at the Getty Museum’
Mesrop of Khizan, Gospel Book. Isfahan, 1615. J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig II 7
The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, the Ararat-Eskijian Museum, and the J. Paul Getty Museum will present a webinar with Dr. Elizabeth Morrison on “Medieval Armenia in Los Angeles: Manuscripts at the Getty Museum,” on Tuesday, February 15, at 4 p.m.
The webinar will be accessible live on Zoom (registration required) and on NAASR’s YouTube Channel.
In this talk, Dr. Elizabeth Morrison, Senior Curator of Manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum, will discuss the small but important collection of Armenian manuscripts at the Getty. Highlights will include leaves by perhaps the most famous Armenian illuminator, T’oros Roslin; a new acquisition formerly unknown to manuscript scholars; and a Gospel book the Getty has been putting back together for almost 40 years.
Elizabeth Morrison is Senior Curator of Manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum. During her twenty-five years there, she has curated numerous exhibitions, including “Imagining the Past in France, 1250-1500” in 2010 and “Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World in 2019,” both of which were finalists for the College Arts Association award for outstanding exhibition catalogue. She has served on the boards of the International Center of Medieval Art and the Medieval Academy of America, and is currently the Vice President of the Association of Art Museum Curators.
For more information contact NAASR at [email protected].
ABMDR’s Landmark Research Findings on How COVID-19 Affects Armenians Published in Leading Medical Journal
The lead page of the article detailing the findings of ABMDR’s COVID-19 research
LOS ANGELES—An article containing the findings of a major COVID-19 research conducted by the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry has been published in “Frontiers in Immunology,” one of the world’s leading medical journals.
The results of the landmark research, which was conducted by ABMDR in collaboration with various Armenian scientists, pertain to the specific manners in which the COVID-19 virus affects ethnic Armenians. The article was published in the February 3 issue of “Frontiers in Immunology”
A preeminent journal in its field, “Frontiers in Immunology” publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research across basic, translational, and clinical immunology. “Frontiers in Immunology” is the official Journal of the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS).
Commenting on the publication of the ABMDR article, Dr. Frieda Jordan, president of the organization, stated, “I think this is a historic milestone, as the results of a critically-important and timely research conducted by a team of Armenian scientists is being shared with the global medical community, contributing to a better understanding of a devastating pandemic.”
The ABMDR article, published in the “Viral Immunology” section of “Frontiers in Immunology,” was co-authored by Dr. Anahit Hovhannisyan, Dr. Vergine Madelian, Dr. Sevak Avagyan, Dr. Mihran Nazaretyan, Armine Hyussyan, Alina Sirunyan, Rubina Arakelyan, Zorayr Manukyan, Levon Yepiskoposyan, Karine R Mayilyan, and Dr. Frieda Jordan.
ABMDR’s COVID-19 research was supported in part by Dr. Carolann and George Najarian and the Armenian Medical Society of California.
Established in 1999, ABMDR, a nonprofit organization, helps Armenians and non-Armenians worldwide survive life-threatening blood-related illnesses by recruiting and matching donors to those requiring bone marrow stem cell transplants. To date, the registry has recruited over 32,000 donors in 44 countries across four continents, identified over 9,000 patients, and facilitated 38 bone marrow transplants. For more information, call (323) 663-3609 or visit the website.
Portantino Visits Armenian American Museum Construction Site
Sen. Anthony Portantino observes the Armenian American Museum construction site with museum officials
GLENDALE—The Armenian American Museum and Cultural Center of California welcomed Senator Anthony J. Portantino for a special visit to the construction site of the landmark center. The museum commenced construction on the Foundation Phase of the project in summer 2021.
“It is truly exciting to witness the progress on the construction of the Armenian American Museum,” stated Senator Anthony J. Portantino. “I am grateful to have the opportunity to contribute and support the creation of an incredible institution that will enrich the lives of generations to come.”
Senator Portantino has been a steadfast supporter and strong advocate for the Armenian American Museum. During his tenure in the State Senate, he has worked with the Governor and State Legislature to secure $8.8 million of state funding in support of the project including a new $1.8 million state grant following the historic Groundbreaking Ceremony in Summer 2021. The State of California has invested a total of $9.8 million of state funding in support of the cultural and educational center.
From l to r: Executive Chairman, Berdj Karapetian; Board of Trustees Co-Treasurer, Talin Yacoubian; Sen. Anthony Portantino; Museum Executive Director Shant Sahakian and Executive Vice Chairman, Zaven Kazazian
The Armenian American Museum is a world class cultural and educational institution that is currently under construction in the museum campus at Glendale Central Park. The museum will offer a wide range of public programming through the Permanent Exhibition, Temporary Exhibitions, Auditorium, Learning Center, Demonstration Kitchen, Archives Center, and more.
The mission of the museum is to promote understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Armenian American experience. The vision is a cultural campus that enriches the community, educates the public on the Armenian American story, and empowers individuals to embrace cultural diversity and speak out against prejudice.
Five Athletes Represent Armenia as Winter Olympic Games Kick Off
Armenia at the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games
The 24th Winter Olympics kicked off in Beijing on Friday with Armenia being represented by five athletes, who took part in the parade of athletes during the opening ceremony.
The flag of the Armenian delegation was carried by skier Mikayel Mikayelyan and figure skater Tina Karapetyan.
Hailing from Ashotsk, Mikayelan and his family are considered a record-holding family in this history of Olympics. Mikayelyan, his brother Sergey and mother Alla were Team Armenia flag-bearers five times during past Olympic Games (Alla Mikayelyan in 1998 Nagano, Sergey Mikayelyan in 2014 Sochi, and Mikayel Mikayelyan in 2016 Lillehammer Youth Olympics).
Joining Mikayelyan and Karapetyan in the procession of athletes were skiers Katya Galstyan and Angelina Muradyan, as well as Karapetyan’s skating partner Simon Sénécal. The head of the Armenian delegation is Armen Grigoryan from the National Olympic Committee who was accompanied by other officials and coaches during the parade.
It was reported earlier that the President of the Ski Federation of Armenia Gagik Sargsyan, mountain skier Harutyun Harutyunyan and coach Arsen Nersisyan had all tested positive for the coronavirus and would not be attending the games in Beijing.
Around 2,900 athletes will compete in in the events. There will be 15 sports held at the Winter Olympics in Beijing this year.
The 15 Winter Olympic sports in 2022 are bobsled, luge, skeleton, ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating, short track speed skating, curling, alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined.
[see video]
Over 50 Members of Congress Tell Biden Administration to Stop Sale of F-16s to Turkey
50 U.S. House members joined Representatives Pallone and Bilirakis in calling on the Biden Administration to block the proposed sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey
Ethnic, faith-based, public policy, and civil society groups echo bipartisan Pallone-Bilirakis letter
WASHINGTON—A bipartisan group of over 50 U.S. Representatives joined Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Hellenic Caucus Co-Chair Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) in pressing the departments of State and Defense to block the sale of next-generation U.S. F-16 fighter jets and upgrade kits to Turkey President Erdogan’s increasingly hostile regime, reported the Armenian National Committee of America.
“We strongly urge you to reject Turkey’s request for new F-16s and modernization kits and take immediate action to hold the Erdogan regime accountable,” stated the February 4 Congressional letter addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. “The United States must not provide any further support to Turkey’s military until President Erdogan takes tangible steps to halt his destabilizing actions and violations of international law at home and abroad. Precedent shows that he will not change his behavior until the United States uses all its diplomatic tools, including targeted economic sanctions.”
Members of Congress joining Representatives Pallone and Bilirakis in co-signing the letter to the Biden Administration are Representatives: Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Judy Chu (D-CA), David Cicilline (D-RI), Katherine Clark (D-MA), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Jim Costa (D-CA), Danny Davis (D-IL), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Kathy Manning (D-NC), James McGovern (D-MA), Grace Meng (D-NY), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Chris Pappas (D-NH), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Katie Porter (D-CA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Albio Sires (D-NJ), Christopher Smith (R-NJ), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Mark Takano (D-CA), Dina Titus (D-NV), Lori Trahan (D-MA), David Valadao, (R-CA), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Susan Wild (D-PA).
The Congressional action has broad support from a growing coalition of U.S. ethnic, faith-based, and foreign policy groups concerned about the U.S. security implications of arming Erdogan with cutting-edge U.S. military technology while Turkey remains under sanctions for their purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system and amid worsening government crackdowns on Turkish civil society.
American Hellenic Leadership Council Executive Director Endy Zemenides explained, “Congress is reminding Turkey that no amount of dinner parties and Twitter activity by Erdogan’s Ambassador in DC will smooth over the fundamental policy differences that led to Turkey being denied advanced American weapons. Congress is right in demanding a change of substance, not merely of style.”
ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian concurred. “The very same interest-based arguments – in fact the very same U.S. sanctions and statutes – that prohibited Turkey’s purchase of F-35s also apply to Turkey’s desire to buy advanced Block 70 F-16s. There can be only one American answer to both of these requests: No jets for Turkey,” stated Hamparian.
Diliman Abdulkader, co-founder & spokesperson of the American Friends of Kurdistan (AFK) noted, “The Erdogan regime continues its endless demands from the U.S. all while failing to act like a reliable ally. Turkey has done enough damage with the weapons it already possesses, advanced F-16 parts will only embolden Erdogan to target vulnerable minorities like the Kurds.”
Cliff Smith, Washington Project Director of the Middle East Forum, was blunt in his assessment of Turkey’s proposed F-16 purchase. “Turkey’s request for upgraded F-16’s shows they still don’t get it. It’s their behavior that needs to change, not their ask. An increasing number of members of Congress get this. I encourage Congress to reject any request from Turkey for any advanced military equipment until Turkey mends its ways.”
Since rumors of Turkey’s request to purchase 40 F-16 fighters and 80 F-16 modernization kits surfaced in October 2021, a number of Congressional initiatives have called for clarification of the White House position on the sale and announced efforts to block the effort. In November, over 40 U.S. House members cosigned a letter led by Representatives Chris Pappas (D-NH), and Congressional Hellenic Caucus Co-Chairs Bilirakis and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), concerned that such a sale would be in violation of CAATSA laws. “We share your goal of a Turkey that is rooted to the West, but we will not achieve that goal if the Erdogan government escapes accountability for violating U.S. law and the standards of the NATO alliance,” argued the Representatives. The House members requested “a formal notification of any Turkish Letter of Request (LOR), the specifics of such an LOR, the Administration’s position on such an LOR, and responses to our specific objections.”
In response to the Pappas-Bilirakis-Maloney letter, State Department Bureau of Legislative Affairs Senior Official Naz Durakoglu repeated the flawed State Department refrains of the past. “Turkey is a longstanding NATO Ally with whom we share many strategic interests,” argued Durakoglu. “Despite the very real challenges in U.S.-Turkish relations, Turkey remains an important ally, acting as both a bridge and a buffer to a region in constant flux.”
Richard Ghazal, Executive Director of In Defense of Christians, challenged that position. “It’s high time that the U.S. replace an out-dated Turkey policy with a sober, merit-based approach. When assessing whether Turkey should be rewarded with advanced U.S. weapons of war, we mustn’t be taken by the antiquated Cold War nostalgia of the NATO ‘stalwart,’ we must look at their malign actions today,” argued Ghazal.
A separate letter led by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) and cosigned by 10 House colleagues last October also urged President Biden and Secretary Blinken to refuse Turkey’s request. “As long as President Erdogan advances his expansionist project in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey will continue to threaten our national security and the security of our closest allies in the region – Greece, Israel, and Cyprus. We urge you to act in our national interest and for the sake of stability in the Eastern Mediterranean by refusing to reinforce Turkey’s aging arsenal of fighter jets, and we look forward to receiving your response,” stated the Malliotakis letter.
Text of Pallone-Bilirakis-led Congressional Letter to Biden Administration
Dear Secretaries Blinken and Austin:
We strongly urge you to reject the recent Turkish proposal to purchase Block 70 F-16s and mechanical upgrades from the United States to modernize its air force. Approving this proposal would reward President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for ignoring both Turkey’s alliance commitments to the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the vast human rights abuses his regime continues to commit at home and abroad.
In November, Turkey requested 40 Block 70 F-16 fighter jets and 80 modernization kits for their current fleet from the U.S. The request comes after the Erdogan regime has repeatedly used its military power to destabilize the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, South Caucasus, and North Africa for years. Turkish and Turkish-backed forces have utilized American-made weaponry and components during these incursions to commit war crimes, including purposefully bombing civilian targets like hospitals and schools in Iraq, Syria, and Nagorno-Karabakh.
The purchase of advanced fighter jets from the United States for Turkey’s military arsenal will not incentivize Erdogan to change course and become a good actor. It will more likely lead to further death and destruction in the region at the hands of his military. Turkey also continues to utilize S-400 missile defense systems, which potentially exposes important tactical information about U.S. weaponry and military operations to Russia. While this is antithetical to their commitments as a NATO ally and jeopardizes American national security, Erdogan uses this tactic consistently to pit the United States and Russia against each other to achieve his desired goals.
At home, the Erdogan regime also continues to promote unfair elections, suppress civil society, and abuse human rights to maintain its grip on power. Just last week, a Turkish journalist was arrested for reportedly insulting Erdogan, a common occurrence under this repressive government that does not respect freedom of speech or the press.
We strongly urge you to reject Turkey’s request for new F-16s and modernization kits and take immediate action to hold the Erdogan regime accountable. The United States must not provide any further support to Turkey’s military until President Erdogan takes tangible steps to halt his destabilizing actions and violations of international law at home and abroad. Precedent shows that he will not change his behavior until the United States uses all its diplomatic tools, including targeted economic sanctions.
Thank you for your attention to these concerns, and we look forward to your timely response.
Sincerely,