F-16, F-35 bidding starts amid election period

Washington has been engaged in a difficult balancing act in recent weeks on multiple levels with regard to Greece and Turkey. The election periods in both countries, Ankara's behavior and the requests for F-16 and F-35 fighter jets that are running almost in parallel, have brought the American diplomacy, which is trying not to displease anyone, to its limits.

The US visit by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and the White House's leak of the imminent congressional notification regarding Turkey's request for F-16s is part of an effort to appease Ankara. This approach in Washington is permeated by the bid "to avoid more grumbling but also to avoid the worst" as everyone knew that after the holidays there would be a congressional notification of the Greek F-35s, so that Athens would not miss the deadline for receiving the first fighters with the 2028 batch.

There...