Greek Lobby In US Welcomes Law Blocking Sale Of F-35 Fighter Jets To Turkey

Greek Lobby in US Welcomes Law Blocking Sale of F-35 Fighter Jets to Turkey

The Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), an influential US-based Greek lobby, which advocated against the transfer of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, welcomed on Tuesday US law halting the F-35s supplies.

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th August, 2018) The Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), an influential US-based Greek lobby, which advocated against the transfer of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, welcomed on Tuesday US law halting the F-35s supplies.

On Monday, US President Donald Trump signed the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (NDAA) into law. The act includes a limitation halting the transfer of F-35 aircraft to Ankara.

"The language included in the NDAA barring the transfer of F-35s to Turkey is but the first step in a long-overdue reassessment of the US-Turkey relationship," HALC Executive Director Endy Zemenides said, as quoted by the Kathimerini newspaper.

US-made weapons cannot be used to threaten Washington's allies like Greece and occupy US strategic partners like Cyprus, he stressed.

"We're happy that the Trump administration is increasing pressure on [Turkish] President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, but temporary measures need to be part of a comprehensive re-evaluation of American long-term policy toward a Turkey which had made clear its intent to turn away from the West and from democratic standards," Zemenides concluded.

HALC said it lobbied the decision in the Congress in partnership with the Armenian National Committee of America and the In Defense of Christians charity.

US-Turkish bilateral relations have deteriorated over US pastor Andrew Brunson's detention in Turkey in 2016. Brunson, who was arrested on suspicion of ties to the Gulen movement, which is accused of orchestrating the 2016 failed military coup in Turkey, was released from prison in late July and placed under house arrest.

Most recently, US President Donald Trump authorized the doubling of steel and aluminum tariffs on Turkey, up to 50 and 20 percent, respectively, which resulted in the Turkish lira falling to a new historical low, after also freezing the assets of two Turkish ministers who allegedly contributed to human rights abuses in the country. Earlier in the day, Erdogan accused Washington of an "economic attack" announcing that the country would boycott US-made electronic goods.