ANKARA (Reuters) -President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey has not given up on acquiring F-35 fighter jets from the United States and has conveyed its desire to rejoin the programme from which it was removed over its purchase of Russian defence systems.
Speaking to reporters on a return flight from a NATO summit in The Hague — where he met U.S. President Donald Trump — Erdogan said he hoped for progress following their discussions on the issue.
“We have not given up on the F-35s. We are discussing our intention to return to the programme with our counterparts,” he was cited as saying by his office on Thursday. “We discussed the issue in our meeting with Mr. Trump, talks at a technical level have started. God willing, we will make progress.”
Washington imposed sanctions on its NATO ally Ankara in 2020 over its purchase of Russian S-400 missile defence systems, while also removing it from the F-35 programme where it was both a buyer and manufacturer. Turkey has repeatedly said its removal was unjust and demanded to be reinstated or reimbursed.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ece Toksabay; Editing by Daren Butler)
