Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he had received a promise from U.S. leader Donald Trump that Ankara would return to the F-35 fighter jet program and expects it to be fulfilled, UNN reports, citing TRT Haber.
According to Erdoğan, the issue of Turkey’s return to the F-35 program was discussed directly with the American president.
Details
"I received a promise from Mr. Trump regarding the F-35s. I expect this promise to be fulfilled," the Turkish leader said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
The issue of American fighter jets remains one of the key issues in relations between Ankara and Washington. Back in July, during the NATO summit, Erdoğan reported on talks with the United States regarding the F-35s and expressed hope for a positive resolution to the issue.
At the time, Trump said he was ready to consider the possibility of selling F-35s to Turkey. At the same time, the American president acknowledged that legal and political obstacles to implementing such a deal remained.
Erdogan stated that Trump has a positive attitude towards the sale of F-35s to Turkey08.07.26, 21:03
Context
Turkey was one of the partners in the international program to develop the F-35 and planned to purchase about 100 of these aircraft. Turkish companies were also involved in producing components for the fighters. However, in 2019, the United States began excluding Turkey from the program after Ankara purchased S-400 surface-to-air missile systems from Russia.
Washington said that the simultaneous operation of the S-400 and F-35 systems created security risks, in particular because Russia could potentially obtain information about the characteristics of American fighter jets.
In 2020, the United States also imposed sanctions on Turkey under the CAATSA law over its purchase of Russian systems.
For its part, Ankara repeatedly demanded that the issue with the F-35s be resolved. Turkish authorities said that the country had already paid about $1.4 billion for the fighter jets before being excluded from the program.
After Trump returned to the White House, the parties intensified negotiations. In July 2026, the American president said he intended to lift sanctions on Turkey and allowed for the possibility of selling F-35s to Ankara.
At the same time, as of August 17, no final agreement on Turkey’s return to the program or the transfer of fighter jets to it had been publicly announced. One of the main unresolved issues remains the fate of the Russian S-400 systems purchased by Ankara.
We remind you
At the end of July 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump said that he would not allow anyone to tell him what to sell, responding to a question about the possible sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. He called President Erdoğan a friend and ally, despite objections from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.