Legislators question timing of decision by Biden administration to recommend move as Greek
PM visits Washington and while Turkey still refuses to support sanctions on Russia
(COVENTRY, RI 5/13/22) Rhode Island State Senator Lou Raptakis is leading a group of dozens of Hellenic-American State Legislators from around the country who are calling on Congress to reject a recommendation by the Biden administration to allow the sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets to Turkey to upgrade their air force.
Raptakis and his colleagues questioned the timing of the move, with the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis coming to Washington, DC and the new U.S. Ambassador to Greece George J. Tsunis taking up his new post. They called the timing an embarrassing misstep, especially in light of the fact that Turkey is refusing to join with the US and NATO countries in sanctioning Russia for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“It’s unconscionable that the Biden administration is requesting the approval of this deal when Turkey is turning its back on supporting our efforts to stop Russian aggression in Ukraine,” said Raptakis. “To reward Turkey now with the sale of new fighter jets would be a horrible mistake.”
Last year, the World Justice Project recently ranked Turkey as one of the world’s countries for the rule of law, ranking 117 on a list of 139 countries. Turkey earned worst or second-worst scores in five of the eight categories, including open government and security.
In calling on the Biden administration to reject the F-16 sales, the legislators said such a deal would significantly undermine the long-standing US-Greece Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement recently renewed by United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias. They said this agreement represents the best path forward in terms maintaining the US-Greek strategic partnership and containing the territorial ambitions of the Erdogan regime.
Raptakis concluded, “We need to see a sustained commitment by the Turkish government to stop playing the role of chaos agent in the region before providing them with additional tools to continue their aggressive actions.” Individual legislators will also forward letters to their United States Senators and members of Congress which included the following at press time:
State Senator Andreas Borgeas R- California
State Representative Eleni Kavros Degraw D- Connecticut
State Representative Nicole-Ditria Klarides R- Connecticut
State Representative Spiros Mantzavinos D- Delaware
State Representative Chuck Efstration R- Georgia
State Representative Mike Cheokas R- Georgia
State Senator John Velis D- Massachusetts
State Representative Steven Xiarhos R- Massachusetts
State Senator Jim Stamas R- Michigan
State Senator Sandra Pappas D- Minnesota
State Senator James Ohrenshall D- Nevada
State Senator James Skoufis D- New York
State Assemblyman John Lemondes R- New York
State Representative Mike Tannousis R-New York
State Representative Efstathia Booras D- New Hampshire
State Representative Benjamin Baroody D- New Hampshire
State Senator Maria Tzanakis Collett D- Pennsylvania
State Representative Steve Malagari D- Pennsylvania
State Senator Leonidas Raptakis D- Rhode Island
State Representative Leon Stavrinakis D- South Carolina
State Representative John Spiros R- Wisconsin
State Senator Stephan Pappas R- Wyoming
Additional Stare Legislators
State Representative Todd Rutherford D- South Carolina
State Representative Deon Terrell Tedder D- South Carolina
State Representative Seth Rose D- South Carolina / hellenicnews
The letters
