President Donald Trump told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that he would lift sanctions. In 2020, Trump imposed sanctions on Turkey because Ankara agreed to buy an advanced Russian missile defense system.
“We’re going to be taking the sanctions off,” Trump said in a meeting with Erdoğan on Tuesday. “It’s time to do that. We don’t want to sanction friends. It’s simple.”
Trump slapped the sanctions on Turkey during his first administration to prevent Ankara from purchasing the F-35. Washington claimed there were security concerns with Ankara acquiring F-35s and the S-400 missile defense system from Moscow.
The Turkish leader said he hopes the removal of the sanctions is a signal that the US is prepared to sell Turkey F-35s. “I believe that President Trump also has made a promise on this separately, and during the meeting of the leaders’ summit,” Erdoğan explained. “We do hope that the promise that we have previously received is going to be productively tested towards the future, and President Trump has always been a man of his word, and hopefully with respect to the F-35.”
Trump says his administration is still discussing selling F-35s to Turkey. The White House may need congressional approval before selling the advanced aircraft to Turkey, as Congress passed a law prohibiting Ankara from acquiring F-35s as long as it operates Russian missile defenses.
Trump traveled to Turkey for a NATO summit. The President said he attended the summit because it was hosted in Turkey. “I was very disappointed with NATO, and frankly, if it weren’t held in Turkey, where my friend happens to be a very strong leader, a very strong person, it’s possible that I wouldn’t have attended,” Trump added.
