US House blocks F-16 sale to Turkey

With its new decision, the US House of Representatives “passed” one of the two amendments to ban the upgrade of the F-16s or the sale of new fighters to Turkey.

According to the amendment, the sale of new F-16s, modernization kits and upgrade technology is prohibited.

According to Greek public broadcaster ERT, the next stage is its approval by the plenary session of the House, which is estimated to take place by the end of July.

Loophole

However, the amendment leaves a “loophole” that allows the US president to override the restrictions if he certifies to Congress that doing so is in the vital national security interest of the US.

The amendment would restrict the president from selling or transferring F-16s or F-16 modernization kits to Turkey unless the president can certify to Congress that Turkey has “not violated the sovereignty of Greece” for at least 120 days prior to the sale or transfer.

The amendment defines violations as including “territorial overflights, or violated the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Athens Flight Information Region.”

The two amendments were filed by Reps. Chris Pappas and Frank Pallon.

“Turkish violations of Greek airspace and armed overflights over Aegean islands have reached dangerous levels, creating a real threat to peace and stability in the region,” the letter states.

Meanwhile, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC) wrote a joint letter to Congress urging it to support what has now become known as the “Pappas amendment”.

The bipartisan amendment was sponsored by six House of Representatives members, three of them Greek-American, but is widely known as the Pappas Amendment, after Chris Pappas, a Representative from New Hampshire.