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Türkiye, US Resume Consultations Under ‘Strategic Mechanism’

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan meets the American delegation taking part in the strategic mechanism meetings in Ankara on Sunday. (Turkish Foreign Ministry)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan meets the American delegation taking part in the strategic mechanism meetings in Ankara on Sunday. (Turkish Foreign Ministry)
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Türkiye, US Resume Consultations Under ‘Strategic Mechanism’

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan meets the American delegation taking part in the strategic mechanism meetings in Ankara on Sunday. (Turkish Foreign Ministry)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan meets the American delegation taking part in the strategic mechanism meetings in Ankara on Sunday. (Turkish Foreign Ministry)

A round of consultations held by the Türkiye-US Strategic Mechanism to discuss bilateral, regional and international issues, concluded in Ankara on Monday.

The two-day meetings were co-chaired by Acting Deputy Secretary of State and Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Burak Akcapar.

The Türkiye-US Strategic Mechanism was initiated on April 4, 2022 following a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Joe Biden in Rome in October 2021.

On Sunday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Nuland in Ankara.

Nuland also held meetings with Türkiye's Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmet Yildiz. The two officials exchanged views on the developments in the Middle East and Africa.

Ending years of negotiations, the US government on Friday approved a $23 billion deal to sell F-16 warplanes to Türkiye, after Ankara ratified Sweden's NATO membership, which was an urgent American demand.

As required by US law, the State Department notified Congress of the agreement, as well as a separate $8 billion sale of 40 F-35s to Greece.

Türkiye will get 40 new F-16s and upgrades to 79 of the jets in its existing fleet, the State Department said in a statement.

The US did not green-light the transaction until Türkiye's instruments of ratification of Sweden's membership had arrived in Washington, a US official said.

Türkiye's parliament ratified Sweden's NATO membership on Tuesday after more than a year of delays that upset Western efforts to show resolve in the face of Russia's war on Ukraine.

Erdogan signed the membership instrument only 48 hours after the parliament’s approval, and 24 hours after Biden sent a letter to key lawmakers urging Congress to proceed with the sale to Türkiye.

The F-16 deal has been a thorny issue in the Ankara-Washington relations, marred by years of tension. This rift emerged when the US withheld the transfer of advanced F-35 stealth fighters to Türkiye, citing concerns over its acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile air defense system.

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Netanyahu ‘Takes Revenge’ on Macron in Lebanon

 A photo of Netanyahu and Macron during their meeting in Jerusalem in October 2023 (AFP)
 A photo of Netanyahu and Macron during their meeting in Jerusalem in October 2023 (AFP)
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Netanyahu ‘Takes Revenge’ on Macron in Lebanon

 A photo of Netanyahu and Macron during their meeting in Jerusalem in October 2023 (AFP)
 A photo of Netanyahu and Macron during their meeting in Jerusalem in October 2023 (AFP)

Israel’s insistence that France can not be a member of the international committee that will monitor a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon is due to a series of French practices that have disturbed Israel recently, political sources in Tel Aviv revealed.
These practices are most notably attributed to the French judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, who has joined other judges to unanimously issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the sources revealed.
“The Israeli government is following with concern the French role at The Hague,” they said, noting that veteran French lawyer Gilles Devers led a team of 300 international lawyers of various nationalities who volunteered to accuse Israel of “committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
According to the Israeli Maariv newspaper, Israeli officials believe that Devers, who signed the arrest warrant against Netanyahu and Galant, would not have dared to do so without having received a green light from French President Emmanuel Macron.
Israeli sources also mentioned other reasons for Israel’s anger at France, such as the government’s decision to bar Israeli firms from exhibiting at the Euronaval arms show near Paris earlier this month.
French officials have repeatedly said that Paris is committed to Israel's security and point out that its military helped defend Israel after Iranian attacks in April and earlier this month.
Paris has so far also refused to recognize the Palestinian state. But the Israeli government is not satisfied. It wants France to follow the United States and blindly support its war in Gaza and Lebanon.
Tel Aviv also feels incredibly confident that France should be punished, and therefore, decided that Paris could not participate in the Lebanese ceasefire agreement, knowing that the Israeli government itself has traveled to Paris several times begging for its intervention, especially during the war on Lebanon.
Meanwhile, an air of optimism has emerged in Israel around the chances for an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon following negotiations led by US envoy Amos Hochstein.
But any optimism relies on Netanyahu’s final decision. The PM is still conducting talks with his friends and allies of the far right who reject the ceasefire agreement and instead, demand that Lebanese citizens not be allowed to return to their villages on the border with Israel. They also request that a security belt be turned into a permanently depopulated and mined zone.
Hochstein Talks
Meanwhile, political sources in Israel claim that what is holding up a ceasefire deal so far is Lebanon. According to Israel's Channel 12, Hochstein expressed a “firm stance” during his talks with the Lebanese side. The envoy delivered clear terms that were passed on to Hezbollah, which the channel said “led to significant progress” in the talks.
Israeli officials said that Tel Aviv is moving towards a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon with Hezbollah in the coming days.
The channel said that during his late visit to Tel Aviv, coming from Beirut after talks with Speaker Nabih Barri, Hochstein said, “I placed before them (Lebanese officials) a final warning, and it seems to have been effective.”
Iran Obstacle
Despite the “positive atmosphere,” informed diplomatic sources pointed to a major obstacle: Iran.
Channel 12 quoted the sources as saying that Lebanon has not yet received the final approval required from Iran, which has significant influence over Hezbollah.

According to the draft proposal, the Lebanese Army must be redeployed to the south and carry out a comprehensive operation to remove weapons from villages. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces will “supervise and monitor the implementation of the operation.”
Channel 12 said Israel believes that such details could still derail the agreement. It also said that Hezbollah could violate the truce.
“In such cases, Israel would have to conduct military operations inside the Lebanese territory,” the channel reported, adding that “one of the unsettled issues is related to the committee that will oversee the implementation of the agreement between Israel and Lebanon.”
The sources said Tel Aviv “insists that France is not part of the agreement, nor part of the committee that will oversee its implementation.”