US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would make a decision on a potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, as he opened a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the NATO summit in Ankara.
"It's a decision we're going to make," Trump said when asked about allowing Turkey to resume buying the advanced fighter jets. "We have a very good relationship." He added: “We have a better relationship with Turkey, and Turkey has been, in many ways, much more loyal than other countries that we think would be loyal, so, yeah, it’s something certainly we would consider.”
Trump says ‘loyal’ Turkey avoided war with Israel because of him, weighs F-35 sale
(Video: Reuters)
Erdogan said he hoped for a positive result on Ankara’s request to buy F-35 fighter jets, adding that Trump had previously promised to provide Turkey with five jets and that “he always keeps his promises.”
Turkey had been a buyer and manufacturer in the F-35 program before it was expelled in 2020 over its purchase of Russian S-400 defense systems. Ankara has called the move unjust and demanded either the jets it paid for, reinstatement in the program or reimbursement.
Erdogan said he would also discuss the war in Ukraine with Trump, as well as engines for Turkey’s KAAN fighter jet program. Trump said Turkey had bought planes and suggested Washington had a duty to support their engines. “Turkey bought planes, I think we have an obligation to maintain engines,” he said. Asked about sanctions imposed on Turkey under CAATSA, the U.S. sanctions law targeting transactions with Russia’s defense sector, Trump said the United States would be lifting sanctions.
Trump said he and Erdogan would also discuss trade, military matters and Iran. He also praised Turkey for not entering the war with Iran, suggesting that his personal relationship with Ankara may have played a role. “They could have gotten into the fight,” he said. “Maybe they didn’t do that because of me.” Referring to the conflict, Trump added: “The war with Iran — or whatever you call it, it’s a military operation, it’s a denuclearization, that’s really what it is.”
The two leaders put their personal relationship on display during Trump’s visit. Erdogan greeted Trump on the tarmac after he landed in Ankara, then received him at the presidential compound with an honor guard, a band playing the American national anthem and a flyover by fighter jets trailing red, white and blue smoke. “We are great friends,” Trump said, adding that the two leaders have “good chemistry” and a “special relationship.”
(Photo: AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Trump also renewed his criticism of NATO and suggested he might not have attended the summit had it not been hosted by Turkey. “I was very disappointed with NATO, and frankly, if it weren’t held in Turkey, where my friend happens to be a very strong leader, a very strong person, it’s possible that I wouldn’t have attended,” Trump said. “I felt I had to attend because of the fact that, you know, I know he’s gone all out.”
Trump also criticized European allies for not assisting the United States in its war against Iran. “Italy turned us down, and Germany turned us down, and France turned us down,” he said. “And in a way, I was testing people.” Asked whether he planned to announce additional reductions of U.S. troops in Europe, Trump declined to commit. “Well, we’re going to see,” he said.
His comments come amid continuing questions over the future of the U.S. military presence in Europe and Trump’s frustration with NATO allies. People familiar with the discussions said Trump has privately discussed cutting American troop levels on the continent by roughly one-third after allies declined to join U.S. military operations against Iran.