US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Turkish counterpart Yasar Guler conferred on Washington’s support for modernizing Turkey’s military in a telephone conversation on Monday after Ankara finally endorsed Sweden’s NATO membership after holding out against the bid for over a year, according to Pentagon’s readout of the discussions released later in the day.
"They ... discussed the positive talks between Turkey, Sweden, and NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, as well as the Department of Defense's support for Turkey’s military modernization," the Pentagon said of the phone call between Austin and Guler.
Ankara requested in October 2021 to purchase $20 billion worth of Lockheed Martin Corp F-16 jetfighters and nearly 80 modernization kits for its existing warplanes.
The phone call came just hours after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declared that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to approve Sweden's bid to join the alliance in a press briefing earlier in the day, just ahead of the NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital city of Vilnius, which commences on Tuesday.
The development came after Sweden and Turkey ironed out their differences at an eleventh-hour meeting attended by Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Vilnius.
Erdogan had previously conditioned his approval on Sweden dropping its support for Kurdish militant groups that are considered terrorist outfits by Ankara. He even upped the ante earlier on Monday by reportedly demanding that Turkey's endorsement of Sweden's NATO accession be further hinged on the revival of his country's European Union membership process.
RHM/PressTV
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