US may ban sale of F-35 to Turkey

Seeking to pressure Turkey into behaving in a manner worthy of NATO "standards," and to limit sharing of the alliance's assets with "hostile actors," Democratic Rhode Island Congressman David Cicilline introduced a bipartisan 'Ban F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Sales to Turkey Act' on Thursday.

Fearing that Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government is growing "increasingly hostile and authoritarian by the day," US lawmakers are calling for a complete ban on the sale or transfer of F-35 aircraft, as well as intellectual property and technical data, to Turkey. Any potential transfers of the multirole stealth fighters would only be possible if the US president certifies that Ankara is not "taking steps to degrade NATO interoperability, exposing NATO assets to hostile actors, or degrading the general security of NATO member countries."

Another three proposed conditions for the transfer of the fifth-generation warplanes include US presidential assurances that Ankara is not seeking to "purchase defense articles from a foreign country with respect to which sanctions are imposed by the United States," jail US citizens, or participate in "military action" which violates international law.