Turkey signals interest in rejoining the US F-35 jet program after Erdogan-Trump meeting, raising questions over its ties with Russia and the S-400 missile system. Photo/X.
Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after meeting US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague has said that the country is not closing doors for the F-35 jets.
The revealation may raise eyebrows in Russia as Turkey uses the country’s S-400 defence system. Recently Turkey announced that the country is upgrading its air defence system with ‘Steel Dome’.
Even Trup later confirmed that Turkey is willing to buy US F-35 jets. President Trump told some Republican donors that Ankara’s return to the F-35 was “being worked out”. Trump however, did not gave any timeline of the delivery.
According to reports the conversation of F-35 between the two countries has moved into the technical phase.
F-35 has been a point of contention between the two countries. Turkey bought Russia’s S-400 defence system for $2.5 billion prompting US sanctions. The White House froze Turkey out of the F-35 consortium.
At that point the US-Turkey relations were seen hitting the nadir. However, diplomats now say that mood in the two countries is shifting.
Trump has hinted at the improving releations between the two countries. He said, Turkey’s “signals are encouraging” and that “we have got momentum”.
Turkey bought S-400 defence system in 2019 and has not activated it since. According to reports, they remain locked up in a military base.
In order to get hands on US F-35 jets, it is being reported that Turkey needs to stop using its S-400s permanently or sell them to any other country.
Two names are being floated who could get these from Turkey- India and Pakistan. The reports are not confirmed yet. What is confirmed is that Turkey wants to come back to US and get hands on F-35 stealth jets no matter the country has to get away with Russian S-400 defence system.
Also Read: Turkish Police Arrest More Than 50 People at Istanbul Pride March
Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
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