US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Washington will lift sanctions imposed on Turkey over its purchase of the Russian air defence system and indicated that his administration is also considering allowing the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Ankara, marking a potential shift in US-Turkey defence ties.Speaking alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Nato summit in Ankara, Trump announced that sanctions imposed under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) would be removed.”We’re going to be taking the sanctions off,” Trump told reporters when asked about the measures imposed under the CAATSA. He added that members of his cabinet were already working on the process.The announcement comes nearly six years after Washington imposed sanctions on Turkey following Ankara’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 air defence system. The move also led to Turkey’s removal from the US-led F-35 fighter jet programme, despite Ankara being both a customer and a production partner.Trump also signalled that his administration was open to restoring Turkey’s access to the fifth-generation fighter aircraft. “It’s a decision we’re going to make,” Trump said when asked about a possible F-35 sale.Earlier, he had also indicated that the proposal remained under active consideration. Praising Ankara’s relationship with Washington, Trump said Turkey had demonstrated greater loyalty than several other US allies.”Turkey has been, in many ways, much more loyal than other countries that we think would be loyal”, he had said. Referring to the aircraft itself, Trump added, “It’s a great plane, it’s the best, currently the best plane by far. And it’s certainly something we will consider.”He reiterated the same position later during the meeting. “We have a better relationship with Turkey, and Turkey has been in many ways much more loyal than other countries that we think would be loyal.”While the lifting of CAATSA sanctions would remove a major obstacle, Turkey would still need to clear several legal and political hurdles before it could fully rejoin the F-35 programme.Erdoğan welcomed Trump’s remarks and expressed confidence that Washington would eventually approve the sale. Speaking at the joint press conference, the Turkish President said he hoped the United States would sell F-35 aircraft to Turkey because “the US president always stands by his word.”Erdoğan also said the two leaders would discuss the sale of jet engines for Turkey’s domestically produced KAAN fighter programme. He added that Turkey expected Trump to “repeat the positive news” he had previously given regarding support for Turkish defence projects.Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defence system has remained one of the biggest points of friction in US-Turkey relations since 2019. In response, Washington imposed CAATSA sanctions on a major Turkish defence company in 2020 and formally removed Ankara from the multinational F-35 programme, a decision Turkey has repeatedly described as unjust.
