{"id":1969894,"date":"2023-07-11T16:21:02","date_gmt":"2023-07-11T20:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mcconnell-drops-opposition-to-sale-of-f-16s-to-turkey-after-nato-breakthrough\/"},"modified":"2023-07-11T16:21:48","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T20:21:48","slug":"mcconnell-drops-opposition-to-sale-of-f-16s-to-turkey-after-nato-breakthrough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mcconnell-drops-opposition-to-sale-of-f-16s-to-turkey-after-nato-breakthrough\/","title":{"rendered":"McConnell supports F-16 sale to Turkey after NATO progress."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmcconnell-drops-opposition-to-sale-of-f-16s-to-turkey-after-nato-breakthrough%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1969894&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Senate Minority Leader McConnell No Longer Opposed to F-16 Sale to Turkey<\/h2>\n<p>Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has had a change of heart regarding the sale of F-16s to Turkey, according to a spokesman. This shift in stance comes after Ankara lifted its blockade on Sweden&#8217;s bid to join NATO.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, McConnell expressed support for Senator Bob Menendez&#8217;s (D-NJ) hold on the sale. As chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez has the power to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mcconnell-drops-opposition-to-sale-of-f-16s-to-turkey-after-nato-breakthrough\/\" title=\"McConnell supports F-16 sale to Turkey after NATO progress.\">unilaterally block major sales<\/a>. However, McConnell&#8217;s opposition was solely based on Turkey&#8217;s refusal to admit Sweden into NATO, which requires a unanimous vote.<\/p>\n<p>While Menendez has yet to release his hold, he has stated that he needs assurances from the Biden administration regarding Greece&#8217;s military advantage in the region. On the other hand, McConnell&#8217;s concerns have been addressed with Turkey&#8217;s agreement to allow Sweden&#8217;s accession. Turkey&#8217;s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was initially against Sweden&#8217;s bid, changed his stance after Sweden tightened its counterterrorism laws and committed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-shift-from-free-trade-is-irreversible-trump-trade-representative-lighthizer-says\/\" title=\"Lighthizer: GOP's move away from free trade is permanent.\">reducing trade barriers<\/a> with the European Union.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement, made just before NATO&#8217;s annual summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, left Hungary as the only country opposing Sweden&#8217;s accession. However, Hungary also dropped its opposition shortly after. Now, both countries&#8217; parliaments must ratify Sweden&#8217;s entry into the alliance for it to become official.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m encouraged that President Erdogan and Prime Minister Orban have agreed to support Sweden\u2019s accession,&#8221; McConnell stated in a floor speech on Tuesday. &#8220;And I look forward to rapid action by the Turkish and Hungarian parliaments.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The addition of Sweden to NATO fulfills the alliance&#8217;s long-term goal of encircling the Baltic coastline. Additionally, it serves as a significant rebuke to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, following Finland&#8217;s accession in April.<\/p>\n<p>McConnell, known for his strong stance on defense, praised Sweden for its already capable military and urged other NATO allies to increase their contributions to defense efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Although McConnell could not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/red-handed-20-republicans-who-sold-out-to-china\/\" title=\"'Red-Handed': 20 Republicans Who Sold Out to China\">single-handedly block<\/a> the F-16 sale to Turkey, his opposition added to the congressional pressure on Turkey, which is seeking to modernize its air force.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration had used the potential sale of the jets as leverage over Turkey in the weeks leading up to the summit.<\/p>\n<p>The $20 billion sale, which the White House confirmed it will proceed with, includes 40 new F-16s. Additionally, the administration plans to deliver F-35s to Greece, which has faced Turkish incursions into its airspace.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\">Click here<\/a> to read more from The Washington Examiner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) now supports the sale of F-16s to Turkey, as Ankara lifted its blockade on Sweden&#8217;s NATO membership. Previously, McConnell backed Sen. Bob Menendez&#8217;s (D-NJ) hold on the sale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1969895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1969894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1969894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1969895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1969894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1969894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1969894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}