US President Joe Biden secured his Turkish counterpart's sudden about-face backing Sweden's NATO bid ahead of this week's NATO summit in Lithuania by promising President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a $11-13 billion line of credit from the IMF, US journalist Seymour Hersh reported on Thursday, citing an unnamed official
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2023) US President Joe Biden secured his Turkish counterpart's sudden about-face backing Sweden's NATO bid ahead of this week's NATO summit in Lithuania by promising President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a $11-13 billion line of credit from the IMF, US journalist Seymour Hersh reported on Thursday, citing an unnamed official.
"The public story for Biden's face-saving coup was talk about agreeing to sell American F-16 fighter bombers to Turkey," Hersh wrote in his Substack blog. "I have been told a different, secret story about Erdogan's turnabout: Biden promised that a much-needed $11-13 billion line of credit would be extended to Turkey by the International Monetary Fund."
Hersh reasoned that the alleged deal allowed Biden, who is running for reelection, to proclaim at the summit that NATO has expanded its alliance, in a direct rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As for Erdogan, he secured much-needed funding to rebuild Turkey after devastating earthquakes in February. Hersh noted that Turkey has been running out of foreign exchange reserves and its banks can no longer honor domestic dollar deposits after excessive lending to the central bank.
