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US President Joe Biden Joe Biden (Joseph Robin Biden) is an American politician.Joe Bidenwas born on November 20, 1942 in said that in a conversation yesterday his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated Ankara's desire to buy F-16 fighter jets from the United States.

For his part, the US leader said that Washington insists that Ankara abandon its objections to Sweden's accession to NATO.

The two heads of state exchanged remarks at Biden's call to Erdogan to congratulate him on his victory in Sunday's presidential election in Turkey.

"I talked to Erdogan. I congratulated him. He still wants to work on something on the F-16. I told him we wanted an agreement with Sweden so we can do it," Biden said before leaving the White House for Delaware.

Asked if he expected any movement from Erdogan about Sweden's NATO membership, he said: "I raised this issue with him. We'll talk about that in more detail next week."

Sweden and Finland formally applied together to join the alliance in May last year, abandoning decades of military non-alignment, a decision triggered by Russia's war against Ukraine that began on Feb. 24, 2022.

Finland joined NATO in April, but Sweden's membership was hampered by objections from Turkey and Hungary.

Turkey has tried to buy F-16s worth $20 billion and nearly 80 modernization kits from the United States. However, the deal was terminated following objections from the U.S. Congress over Ankara's refusal to give the green light to NATO expansion, its human rights record and its Syria policy, although the Biden administration has repeatedly said it supports the sale.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Congress approved a much smaller $259 million package including avionics software upgrades for Turkey's current F-16 fleet. This happened days after Turkey ratified Finland's accession to NATO.

The Biden administration has repeatedly rejected claims of quid pro quo regarding the sale and expansion of NATO. In January, however, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the U.S. side had made it clear that approval of NATO bids would be viewed positively by Congress.

In February, in a letter to Biden, senators said Turkey's refusal to ratify Sweden's and Finland's accession protocols to the alliance would "call into question this upcoming sale" of the F-16.

Erdogan has identified several of his priorities.

A source familiar with the discussions revealed that the United States had previously warned Turkey that it would be difficult to get Congress to approve the F-16 deal if Ankara did not give Sweden the green light.

Turkey ratified Finland's NATO accession at the end of March, but remains opposed to Sweden's membership as it says Stockholm gives asylum to members of extremist groups it considers terrorists. Hungary has also not yet approved the Scandinavian country's application.

Sweden's accession to NATO by mid-July, when the alliance will hold a leaders' meeting in Lithuania, is among Washington's top priorities.

In a statement on the conversation between Biden and Erdogan, the Turkish presidency said the two leaders had agreed to deepen cooperation on all aspects of their bilateral relations, which have grown in importance given regional and global challenges.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Joe Biden