Talks between Turkish President Abdullah Gul and his US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Chicago failed to make any progress on the sale of armed UAS to Turkey.
Turkey seeks to buy armed unmanned aircraft from the United States, but the request has turned out to be controversial, with some in the U.S. Congress refusing to agree to a sale of the aircraft in the context of Ankara’s deteriorating relations with Israel, a close U.S. ally. The U.S. administration is reportedly willing to sell the aircraft to Turkey and is trying to persuade Congress not to block the sale, Turkish media reports said on Tuesday.
Gül reportedly told Obama during the meeting that Turkey expected the U.S. to meet its needs for fighting terrorism. But the two leaders could not make any progress on the sale of American drones to Turkey. Obama reportedly told Gül that he understood Turkey’s needs and the sale of the UAS was in his administration’s agenda, but he made it clear that he could not strike a deal on the issue bypassing the Congress, the reports said.
Debate over the planned sale has heated up lately after a U.S. report claimed that American UAS provided wrong information on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), resulting in the killing of 34 civilians in bombings by Turkish warplanes across the Turkish-Iraqi border after mistaking them for PKK rebels.
Gül told a group of journalists ahead of his talks that the proposed sale would come up at the meeting with Obama. He argued that “if the sale of Reapers is sensitive,” that same should hold true for F-35 jet fighter, which are even “more dangerous.” The U.S. has agreed to share F-35 technology with Turkey, the reports said.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz, and Turkish Ambassador to Washington Namik Tan were also present during the 30-minute talks.
Source: RTT News