Menendez: Blinken won’t override the Turkish F-16 veto

“Of course I have other tools in case of an emergency, but I don’t think I’ll need them,” said the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The fact that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has assured the Senate that the Biden administration will not override the veto (congress hold) of the Turkish F-16 was mentioned by Senator Robert Menendez.

The Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee made the disclosure with reference to the daily discussion he had with the US Secretary of State during his speech at the 38th Annual Conference of the International Coordinating Committee for the Cyprus Struggle (ICCC) in Washington.

Conversation

Referring to the conversation he had with Anthony Blinken, Senator Menendez said, “I asked Secretary Blinken directly because he met with the Turkish foreign minister a few months ago. I asked him before and after the meeting: ‘Will you go over the Senate’s objections to sales to Turkey and especially the F-16s?'”

And he answered me without hesitation, “As I said to the Turkish foreign minister, I will tell you the same thing. I have no intention of overriding your objections to the arms sale.” And although Cavusoglu responded by pressuring him, “If you agree to this sale to us, why don’t you override his objections?” “I won’t,” Blinken replied.

Elsewhere in his speech, Senator Menendez made it clear that the government could technically override a veto by lawmakers. To do so, however, would go against a longstanding tradition, in which the White House has only once overridden the will of Congress on a specific sale.

Biden’s position

In any case, Senator Menendez expressed his satisfaction with the response and the assurances given to him by the Biden administration. However, he did not hesitate to take it one step further, warning that even in the opposite case, he would still have tools that he would not hesitate to use.

“I expected this to be the answer (from the State Department), but I made it clear that I was happy to hear that answer. Of course, I have other tools just in case, but I don’t think I need them, and I don’t expect any conflict in this matter,” he added. It would be foolish for the government to do that.”

Source: APE/MEB