First on FOX: President Donald Trump is considering resuming sales of fighter jets to Turkey after a conversation with President Recept Tayp Erdogan.
Trump has expressed his intention to support the final decision to sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, and is open to the idea of selling Turkey's true respect target F-35 jets.
The agreement could appear to partially disassemble the machinery or move it to a US control base in Turkey.
Although Congress approved $23 billion in sales of 79 40 F-16s and modernization kits to what is now Turkey last year, there is continued negotiations between the Turkish Ministry of Defence and Lockheed Martin, which builds the jet.
Turkish authorities arrest Erdogan's major rival
President Donald Trump is exploring the possibility of reverting Turkey to the F-35 program. (Reuters/Marco Garcia/File Photo)
Trump's team is seeking legal and technical analysis of how it could avoid finding Turkey in violation of countering American enemies through the Sanctions Act (CAATSA) sanctions, according to a source familiar with the demand.
The State Department and the National Security Council could not be reached for comment.
The US has agreed to extend the exemption that allows Turkey to purchase Russian natural gas until May. Bloomberg reported Thursday.
Trump and Erdogan spoke on the phone on Sunday, and the Turkish government is trying to solidify plans to bring Erdogan to the US with Trump in the near future.
The Turkish embassy pointed to reading a call from an Erdogan office that the president said had made a statement to Trump.
Erdogan asked the US to lift sanctions in Syria. There, the new governing force, HTS, overthrew Bashar al-Assad with the support of Türkiye. The US did not provide a phone readout.
Turkey was kicked out of the F-35 program after purchasing a Russian S-400 mobile missile-to-missile system to spy on concerns related to having a Kremlin operating system very close to high-level US technology like the F-35.
“The F-35 cannot co-exist with the Russian intelligence report collection platform, which is used to learn about advanced features,” the White House said in 2019, adding that the purchase would have a “harmful effect” on the participation of Turkey's NATO.
Turkey was removed from the F-35 program after purchasing the Russian S-400 air defense system in 2019. (Reuters/Evgenia Novo Zenina)
Turkey's capital, Ankara, brokered a $2.5 billion contract with Russia for the S400S in 2017 despite warnings that there were political and economic consequences. To stop Turkey, the US offered to sell them the patriot system, but Ankara wanted the system's sensitive missile technology, along with it, and the US declined.
The US consideration comes after the UK offered a price proposal to Turkey last week to buy 40 Eurofighter typhoon fighters.
The move to sell the Turkish F-35 would prove to be controversial and swift concern from US allies like Israel, as Turkey cut all ties due to the Gaza War last year, and Greece cut off by conflicts over Cyprus and surrounding seas.
Experts describe the F-35 as a “status symbol.” “The F-35 club is for truly trustworthy allies,” said Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Democracy Foundation.
“This is a turkey that President Trump has bombed, supports Hussys who support Hamas and Hezbollah,” says Endisemenides, executive director of the Hellenic American Leadership Council. “They know they don't want to be customers. They want to be competitors in the arms market.”
Trump was uniquely placed in Erdogan's “whisper” to Erdogan's ears over regional ambitions in Turkey: Greek Minister of Defense
Recept Tayyip Erdogan's team is about to finalise a meeting with President Donald Trump on the left. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, file)
However, isolating Turkey, which has its second-largest permanent force behind NATO's US, could urge them to go to Russia and China for weapons supply.
“Trump is about doing business transactions here. Turkey, with nearly 1 million soldiers on the other side, says Jonathan Bass, CEO of Argent LNG and international trade expert.
“Turkey is an unresolved thorn on the side of the NATO alliance,” Shangzer said.
But he said, “There is an Erdogan democratic deficit and dictatorial tendency. All of these create a very cloudy picture for our engagement.
“Turkey is a major economy. It needs to come down to the right of the fence. It is necessary from a supply chain perspective,” he rebutted the base.
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He added that the US needs to partner with Türkiye in the rare earth mineral mining industry. “Turkey has more mining infrastructure,” he said. “They can help us with mining operations in Africa. We don't have people who are willing to do that.”
“If you don't give Erdogan a seat at the table, he's going to make his own,” Bass warned.
“He wants to be respected.
