Members of US Congress blocked major arms deals with Turkey

For almost two years, members of the American Congress have blocked all major arms deals to Turkey due to Ankara's purchase of the S-400 air defense system, media reported.The exact number of blocked contracts is not disclosed, but it is indicated that at least two of them were large. One of these contracts concerned the modernization of F-16 fighters, TASS reports with reference to Defense News.

The defense industry is alarmed that such actions could ruin relations between contractors and Turkey will start looking for new partners.Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch and House Foreign Relations Senior Republican Michael McCall have admitted they are linked to the Turkish contract freeze.

Sources report involvement in the blocking of the head of the relevant lower house committee, Eliot Engel, and the senior democrat of the upper house committee, Robert Menendez.

The United States resorted to similar measures in 1975 after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Then the United States suspended the sale of arms to Turkey for three years.As reported by the VZGLYAD newspaper, the US bill to impose sanctions against Turkey for the purchase of Russian S-400 complexes has become a new reason for the deterioration of relations between Washington and Ankara.