Jake Sullivan

"Is Turkey fundamentally reassessing its pro-Western foreign policy?" Fareed Zakaria's question to Joe Biden's National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on June 4 made me turn up the TV volume. Sullivan's answer was fascinating:

US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan discussed defense and economic priorities during a meeting on Tuesday, the White House said, a day after Ankara backed Sweden joining the NATO military alliance.

US President Joe Biden's administration will move ahead with the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey in consultation with Congress, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday, a day after Ankara gave the green light for Sweden to join NATO.

NATO opened its summit Tuesday with fresh momentum after Turkey withdrew its objections to Sweden joining the alliance, a step toward the unity that Western leaders have been eager to demonstrate in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez on Monday said there was a temporary "lull" in Turkey's "aggression against its neighbors" and said he is in talks with the Biden Administration about the hold he has on future US sales of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara.

US President Joe Biden will move forward with the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey in consultation with Congress, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday.

Speaking ahead of a summit of NATO leaders due to start later in the day in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, Sullivan said Biden "had been clear that he supports the transfer."

Otherwise, Bundestag deputy Ralf Stegner criticized the US decision to supply Kyiv with cluster munitions, stressing that their use could lead to the death of civilians.
Former Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Melnyk told Stegner and other German politicians who criticized the delivery of cluster munitions to Ukraine to "go to hell."

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues with no end in sight, NATO leaders gather for their annual summit this week in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, with crucial issues on the agenda.

President Joe Biden on Friday defended what he said was a "difficult decision" to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine, a move the administration said was key to the fight and buttressed by Ukraine's promise to use the controversial bombs carefully.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan expressed Washington's satisfaction with the prevailing climate in the Aegean and the contacts between Greece and Turkey, in a telephone conversation with the Turkish president's chief adviser, Ambassador Akif Cagatay Kilic.