ANKARA (Reuters) -The U.S. ambassador to Turkey said he expects Donald Trump and Tayyip Erdogan to resolve long-standing defence-related sanctions on Turkey by year end, according to an interview with state owned Anadolu Agency.
Thomas Barrack, the envoy, said the two presidents could give directions to settle the issue of sanctions, which the U.S. imposed in 2020 over Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 missile defence systems.
“In my view, President Trump and President Erdogan will tell Secretary (Marco) Rubio and Foreign Minister (Hakan) Fidan to fix this, find a way, and a resolution is possible by year-end,” he was quoted as saying on Sunday.
The CAATSA sanctions, referring to the ‘Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act’, also removed NATO member Turkey from the F-35 programme where it was both a buyer and manufacturer of the fighter jets.
Ankara, which has closer U.S. ties since Trump’s return to the White House, has said its removal from the programme was unjust and has demanded to be reinstated or reimbursed.
“We all believe there’s a tremendous opportunity here, as we have two leaders who trust each other,” said Barrack, who is also special envoy to neighbouring Syria.
(Reporing by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)
