On September 30, 2021 Turkish president Tyyip Erdogan sent a formal request to the United States of America to purchase new military aircrafts. They sent out a request for 40 new F-16 Block 70 aircrafts, they also wanted 80 kits from Lockheed Martin Corp to modernize their F-16’s they already have had. The deal would be around 6 billion USD. Congress will be cautious to approve this deal because in 2017 the Turkish government made a 2.5 billion dollar deal with Russia. That deal gave Turkey S-400 missiles. Erdogan plans on talking to President Biden at the group of 20-nations summit that takes place at the end of the month.
The Turkey and United States relations have already been quite questionable with the new YPG missile attacks on Turkey. This deal could calm tensions between the United States by Turkey being happy with us, but also it could be that Turkey wouldn’t have to be as reliant on the United States for their problems with the YPG. Another thing in this deal is that it could stop further arms dealings between Russia and Turkey. As much as we have not been in a good spot with Turkey this could be a win for the United States and one deal could fix a lot of problems between the two countries.
This relates to international relations because it is an arms deal between two states. This deal is one of the solutions to the collective goods problem. It is the solution where both countries benefit from the deal. The United States benefits because American corporations get more money and therefore do better which then boosts the economy in america. Turkey benefits because they get new military aircrafts and get to better their old aircrafts. Although the big question is if the United States national interest will outweigh the deal or not.