Türkiye: Negotiations with US on F-16 deal "going well"

Türkiye’s top diplomat has said that negotiations are "going well" with the US on an F-16 fighter jet deal.

"The F-16 negotiations are going well. The [US] administration's approach on negotiations is very positive," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a televised interview on July 27, TRT World reports. 

The approximately $6 billion deal would include the sale of 40 newly built F-16V fighter jets and modernisation kits for 80 F-16 C/D models that the Turkish Air Forces has in its inventory.

Cavusoglu said that a "strategic mechanism" had been established and that the first meeting at the ministerial level was already held in New York.

The mechanism aims to help address existing issues between the two countries, including Washington's support for the YPG/PKK terrorist groups, sanctions, and the extradition of the ringleader of the Fetullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup attempt.

Cavusoglu also stressed that the "negative atmosphere" seen at the US Congress in recent years has dissipated.