Türkiye awaits concrete steps from Washington to lift US sanctions imposed over its purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems and to be reintegrated into the F-35 fighter jet program. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated they believe progress will be made on both issues soon.
US President Donald Trump, during his visit to Ankara this week for the NATO Summit, had announced he would lift CAATSA sanctions on Türkiye. In remarks to TRT Haber, Fidan said there is political will in both Ankara and Washington to remove the sanctions and that relevant ministers are working to resolve the matter.
Washington imposed CAATSA sanctions in 2020 citing Türkiye's S-400 purchase and removed Ankara from the F-35 joint production program. The US Congress also passed a law requiring Türkiye to abandon the S-400 systems to return to the program.
Fidan stressed that there are two main issues in Türkiye-US relations stemming from US legislation: "CAATSA is one. The F-35 jets are the other. ...God willing, we will reach a result soon; I don't think there will be a problem," he said. He emphasized that there should be no restrictions in defense industry among allies.
According to a Reuters report citing two sources, Trump was expected to support the F-35 sale during his Ankara visit. Trump, however, said he had not yet made a final decision on the matter.
Hürriyet newspaper wrote that Türkiye might announce on Friday that it will resell the S-400s to a Gulf country in order to persuade the US to sell F-35s. Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the issue is "extremely sensitive" for Moscow and that they are in contact with Ankara.
