Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived at the White House, where he was welcomed by US President Donald Trump, which marked the beginning of the meeting between the two, TRT Haber reported, quoted by BTA.
At the beginning of the talks between Erdogan and Trump, the Turkish president stated that “relations between Turkey and the US are going through a difficult period“, emphasizing his hope that in today's conversation he would be able to discuss “in detail” the issues related to the purchase of F-35 and F-16 fighter jets.
During Trump's first term, the US excluded Turkey, a NATO member, from its F-35 fifth-generation fighter jet program after Ankara bought an air defense system from Russia. US officials were concerned that Turkey's use of the Russian S-400 air defense system could allow it to gather data on the capabilities of the F-35 and that the information could fall into Russian hands, the Associated Press notes.
At the same time, Trump expressed satisfaction with the meetings held in recent days with Erdogan and other leaders on the situation in the Gaza Strip, saying: "I think we will reach some kind of agreement," TRT reports.
Trump also described Erdogan as "very neutral" regarding the war between Russia and Ukraine and said: "President Erdogan is respected by both of them (Russian and Ukrainian presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky). Everybody respects Erdogan – me too“.
Trump added that he would like Russia to stop buying gas from Russia, Reuters reported
"I would like them to stop buying gas from Russia while Russia continues this invasion of Ukraine", the American leader said.
When asked if he would like to reach a deal to sell F-35 jets to Turkey, Trump told reporters: "I think he will be able to buy the things he wants to buy".
The American president also noted that he could remove sanctions against Turkey "very soon" and added: "If the meeting goes well, almost immediately."
In 2017, Turkey signed a $2.5 billion deal with Moscow after failing to acquire American “Patriot" missiles (Patriot), and in 2019, deliveries of the Russian S-400 were completed. The deal caused a crisis in defense relations between the United States and Turkey, which led Washington to remove Ankara from the F-35 fighter jet program and impose sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through the Americas Act (CAATSA) on Turkey, recalls “Türkiye Today“.