US Lawmakers Have Blocked Arms Sales To Turkey For 2 Years - Reports

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th August, 2020) A bipartisan group of US lawmakers have taken action in the last two years to block arms sales to Turkey, Defense news reported on Wednesday citing sources in Congress, the Trump administration and the defense industry.

The report said US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, Ranking Member Bob Menendez, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel and Ranking Member Mike McCaul have blocked the sale of US military equipment to Turkey for nearly two years.

Risch told Defense News that he will not support arms sales to Turkey until the issues surrounding Ankara's purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system are resolved.

The report also said, according to two sources with ties to major US defense companies, that the industry has not made a large lobbying effort to clear a path for sales to Turkey.

Since 2018, the United States has introduced a number of measures to pressure the Turkish government into canceling the S-400 purchase, including removing Turkey from the F-35 aircraft supply chain despite the added costs to the program.

The United States has proposed buying the S-400s from Ankara in a bid to break the deadlock. Washington has claimed the S-400 is incompatible with NATO security standards and might compromise the operations of the F-35 jets.

Turkey has repeatedly vowed to activate the missile systems, delivered by Russia last summer, despite the US threats of sanctions.