WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Monday did not confirm Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s comment that Washington had made an offer to Ankara for the sale of F-16 fighter jets but added that it has not made Turkey a financing offer for the warplanes.
Erdogan said on Sunday that the United States had proposed the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey in return for its investment in the F-35 program, from which Ankara was removed after buying missile defense systems from Russia.
“We would refer you to the Turkish government to speak to its defense procurement plans. What I can say is the United States has not made any financing offers on Turkey’s F-16 request,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a briefing.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Simon Lewis; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
