Erdogan confident Turkey to be readmitted to US F-35 program in stages
Washington booted Turkey out of its F-35 program in 2019 and a year later imposed sanctions on Ankara over its purchase of an S-400 Russian surface-to-air missile defense system, but since Trump's return to office, the two NATO allies appear keen to end the dispute.
'I believe that Mr. Trump will remain loyal to the agreement we made. I think the F-35s will be delivered to Turkey step-by-step during his term,' Erdogan said while returning from Azerbaijan, the Anadolu state news agency reported Saturday.
He gave no further details about the agreement but said the move was 'part of a geo-economic revolution.'
'The F-35 issue is not only a military technology issue for us, but also a strong partnership issue in international platforms such as NATO,' he added.
The sanctions on Turkey's defense sector have soured ties between the two allies but last weekend, Washington's envoy to Ankara Tom Barrack said they were likely to be over 'by the year's end.'
Trump and Erdogan would instruct their top diplomats to 'figure out the way and end it and Congress will support an intelligent solution', he told Anadolu on Sunday.
In March, Erdogan spoke to Trump about the need to finalize a deal to let Turkey buy US F-16 fighter planes and be readmitted to the development program for F-35 warplanes.
And last month, he said he saw an end in sight to the sanctions, saying Turkey had seen them eased under Trump.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill 33 Palestinians
DEIR Al-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israeli airstrikes killed at least 33 Palestinians in Gaza, hospital officials said on Sunday, as Israel's military said it has struck over 100 targets in the embattled enclave in the past fighting came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was preparing to fly to Washington for talks at the White House aimed at pushing forward ceasefire Donald Trump has floated a plan for an initial 60-day ceasefire that would include a partial release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for an increase in humanitarian supplies allowed into Gaza. The proposed truce calls for talks on ending the 21-month war strikes dozens of targetsTwenty people were killed and 25 wounded after Israeli strikes hit two houses in Gaza City, according to Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of Shifa Hospital that services the southern Gaza, 13 Palestinians were killed by strikes in Muwasi, an area on Gaza's Mediterranean where many displaced people live in tents, officials at Nasser Hospital in neaby Khan Younis said. Five of the dead belonged to the same family according to the Israeli military had no immediate comment on the individual strikes, but said it struck 130 targets across the Gaza Strip in the last 24 said the strikes targeted Hamas command and control structures, storage facilities, weapons and launchers, and that they killed a number of militants in northern war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others responded with an offensive that has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health ministry, which is under Gaza's Hamas government, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war deal being discussedThe strikes occur as efforts to reach a ceasefire deal appeared to gain momentum. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's office said his government will send a negotiating team to talks in Qatar on Sunday to conduct indirect talks, adding that Hamas was seeking 'unacceptable' changes to the planned talks in Qatar comes ahead of Netanyahu's planned visit on Monday to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump to discuss the deal. It is unclear if a deal will be reached ahead of Netanyahu's White House has sought guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a total end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Previous negotiations have stalled over Hamas demands of guarantees that further negotiations would lead to the war's end, while Netanyahu has insisted Israel would resume fighting to ensure the militant group's destruction.
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
Switzerland reopens its embassy in Tehran after two-week closure
VIENNA: Switzerland, which also represents US interests in Iran, has reopened its embassy in Tehran after a closure due to the air war between Israel and Iran, the Swiss foreign ministry said on Sunday. 'Ambassador Nadine Olivieri Lozano and a small team returned to Tehran yesterday overland via Azerbaijan. The embassy will gradually resume operations,' the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. It had been closed since June 20.
Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Pro-Kurdish lawmakers visit Abdullah Ocalan as PKK to destroy arms
A delegation from the pro-Kurdish DEM party went to meet jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan on Sunday as his Kurdish militants prepared to begin destroying their weapons, the party said. Lawmakers Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar traveled with lawyer Ozgur Faik Erol to Imrali prison island near Istanbul where Ocalan has been serving a life in solitary since 1999, a DEM statement said. The talks came ahead of a planned ceremony by PKK militants in Iraqi Kurdistan at which they said they would begin destroying a first tranche of weapons -- due on or around 10-12 July. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday the move would give momentum to peace efforts with the Kurds, telling reporters he would also meet the DEM delegation. That meeting is expected to happen next week. In February, Ocalan urged the PKK to end its armed struggle and disband, which the group formally did in May, drawing a line under a decades-long conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives. The disarmament process is expected to unfold over the coming months.
