WASHINGTON: Ending months of negotiations, the US government on Friday approve d a $23 billion deal to sell F-16 warplanes to Turkiye, after Ankara ratified Sweden`s Nato membership, the State Department said.

As required by US law, the State Department notified Congress of the agreement, as well as a separate $8.6 billion sale of 40 F-35s to Greece.

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

The United States did not green light the transaction until Turkiye`s instruments of ratification of Sweden`s membership had arrived in Washington, a US official said, highlighting the highly sensitive nature of the negotiations.

All instruments of rati-fication must be deposited in the US capital a city Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will visit next week, and which will host a summit in July to mark the 75th anniversary of the trans-Atlantic alliance.

Turkiye`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.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan initially objected to Sweden`s Nato bid over Stockholm`s perceived acceptance of Kurdish groups that Ankara views as `terrorist` organisations.

Sweden responded by tightening its anti-terrorism legislation and taking other security steps demanded by Erdogan.

But Erdogan then turned to an unmet US pledge to deliver a batch of F-16 fighter jets that has met resistance in Congress because of Turkiye`s perceived backsliding on human rights and standoffs with fellow Nato member Greece.-AFP