The United States Senate erected a Scandinavian obstacle for the F-16 acquisition of Turkiye. A group of partisans sent a letter about this issue to U.S. President Joe Biden.
According to the document written by 29 senators from both parties, names directly linked the approval of Sweden and Finland to NATO. Signee senators wrote that they would not give the green light to F-16 sale to Turkiye.
"At the 2022 NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain, Türkiye signed a trilateral MOU with Sweden and Finland on June 28, outlining agreements on efforts Sweden and Finland would take to address security concerns raised by Türkiye as a precondition for NATO membership for these two countries. 
Since that time, both Sweden and Finland have worked to implement concerns outlined in that Memorandum, including but not limited to increased efforts to combat international terrorism and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organization in both Sweden and Finland and is a U.S. and European Union-designated terrorist organization, and ongoing efforts to bolster law enforcement capacity to support extraditions and deportations to Türkiye consistent with national procedures and the rule of law. Sweden and Finland have also initiated processes to review their regulatory framework for arms exports. Sweden recently granted one of its first export licenses from the Swedish defence industry to deliver military equipment to Türkiye since 2019. Finland is also considering granting export licenses. It is clear that both Sweden and Finland are making full and good faith efforts to meet the conditions for NATO membership that Türkiye has asked for. Despite this evident progress, Türkiye has not ratified the accession protocols for Sweden and Finland and has been unwilling to commit to a timeline for consideration of ratification of the protocols.The U.S. and Türkiye cooperate on a number of security priorities. The United States continued efforts to support these priorities, such as your administration"s support for the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye, is based on a shared understanding of support for our democratic allies. Once the NATO accession protocols are ratified by Türkiye, Congress can consider the sale of F-16 fighter jets. A failure to do so, however, would call into question this pending sale." Phrases are written in the letter.After Finland and Sweden"s NATO applications, Turkiye, although signing the MoU in Madrid, put stones in front of the countries" participation in the alliance by using its veto power. Claiming the support provided by Sweden to groups and formations on Turkiye"s counter-terrorism list, Ankara also cited the military system embargoes that the two countries have been implementing for a long time as a reason for its refusal. Bilateral talks with both countries are ongoing on this issue. However, due to some political problems between Turkiye and Sweden, the Turkish side stated that they would not change the veto decision for a while, but they would be open to dialogue if the conditions were met.US Ambassador to Turkiye, Jeffry Flake, on January 19th, openly stated in his first on-the-record press meeting about the sale of the F-16 and its connection to Sweden and Finland"s membership to NATO.Ambassador Jeffry Flake said, “There is no linkage there. Secretary Blinken made it clear. Having said that, a number of members of Congress feel very strongly about the new accession issue. Some of them vocalised in the last few months ever since Sweden and Finland made a bid."
