Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said U.S. President Donald Trump had made a “promise” to sell F-35 fighter jets to his country as the two leaders met on Tuesday ahead of the two-day NATO summit in Ankara.
Speaking at a press conference at the Turkish presidential complex, Erdoğan said through a translator, “I believe that President Trump also has made a promise on this separately, and during the meeting of the leaders’ summit, we do hope that the promise that we have previously received is going to be productively tested towards the future. President Trump has always been a man of his word, and hopefully with respect to the F-35.”
The United States removed Turkey from its partner program to purchase the advanced stealth jet in 2019 during Trump’s first term after Turkey bought S-400 surface-to-air missile defense batteries from Russia.
The following year, the United States imposed sanctions on Turkey over the Russian air-defense purchase.
Trump told reporters that he would be lifting the sanctions against Turkey, and said the United States had an “obligation” to sell it replacement parts for its existing stock of U.S.-made jets, but was non-committal about selling the F-35.
“It’s a decision we’re going to make,” Trump said.
U.S. law prevents the sale of F-35s to Turkey so long as it retains the Russian systems, but Turkey may now be willing to sell or transfer them as part of a deal.
Trump has previously signaled that he is willing to re-admit Turkey to the F-35 program alongside other NATO members such as the United Kingdom and Italy and close U.S. allies like Israel and Japan, thanks in large part to his close relationship with Erdoğan.
The U.S. president said that the relationship between Turkey and the United States, which has drawn sharp criticism from some Israeli officials, was now “better, probably, than it’s ever been.”
He reiterated that praise for Erdoğan on Tuesday.
“You never know why a relationship is special,” Trump said of the Turkish leader. “It’s a chemistry that works between us.”
