President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Donald Trump met at the Presidential Complex in Ankara as part of the NATO Summit.
After the bilateral meeting, Erdoğan said, "Being together with my dear friend in Ankara has given us extra strength."
Addressing the F-35 issue, President Erdoğan said, "This is not a new topic for us. We previously spoke with the U.S. and received a commitment for five aircraft. I believe a favorable decision will come out of the Leaders' Summit. Mr. Trump always stands by his word."
Trump responded to a question about sanctions by saying, "I can say that we can lift the CAATSA sanctions."
On a question regarding Iran-U.S. relations, Erdoğan said, "We are striving to bring Iran-U.S. relations to a better footing. We are working to take steps toward world peace."
Referring to the situation in Gaza, Erdoğan said, "We attach great importance to this Leaders' Summit for discussing Gaza with my dear friend and achieving peace in the region."
Bringing up the issue of KAAN engines, Erdoğan said, "We will discuss the KAAN engines with my dear friend at the Leaders' Summit. I believe he will repeat the good news he gave us here."
Regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, Erdoğan said, "We will also share and discuss the developments between Russia and Ukraine with my dear friend here, and we will take steps accordingly. As two important NATO countries, we will achieve a strong, united outcome from the Leaders' Summit, and we believe we will succeed."
U.S. President Trump noted that Turkey has become a very strong country militarily, saying, "President Erdoğan, under your leadership you are a leader respected around the world. If this meeting had not been held in Turkey, where my friend is a strong leader, I probably would not have attended. Right now, our relations with Turkey are better than ever."
