Türkiye believes it is closer to resolving its disputes with the United States over the F-35 fighter jet program and Russian-made S-400 air defense systems, senior Turkish officials said after talks in Washington.
Hulusi Akar, chairman of the Turkish parliament’s National Defense Committee, said meetings with senior members of the House Armed Services, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees had taken place in a positive and constructive atmosphere.
The talks centered on bilateral defense and security cooperation, including Türkiye’s possible return to the F-35 program, as well as regional developments.
Akar said Rep. Mike Turner, head of the U.S. delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, had described discussions on Türkiye’s return to the program as “very promising.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also said after the July 7-8 NATO summit in Ankara that U.S. President Donald Trump had taken a positive approach toward delivering F-35 jets to Türkiye.
Deputy Foreign Minister Levent Gümrükçü separately said a joint political and military working group had examined several options intended to meet U.S. legal requirements and Türkiye’s political and economic concerns.
“This time we really feel closer. We feel that we might be able to resolve this issue and leave that problem behind us,” Gümrükçü said at an Atlantic Council event on July 17.
He did not disclose the possible terms of an agreement or indicate when one might be reached.
He said Ankara nevertheless had confidence that the current U.S. administration would implement its side of any eventual deal.
Washington removed Türkiye from the F-35 program in 2019 after it received the S-400 systems, arguing that the Russian equipment could compromise the aircraft’s security. The United States later imposed sanctions on Türkiye’s Presidency of Defense Industries under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA.
Ankara has rejected the U.S. concerns and maintains that it fulfilled its financial and contractual obligations under the F-35 program.
Akar said both sides were working to resolve the S-400 dispute and that progress could come in the near future. He argued that Türkiye’s return to the F-35 program would follow once the S-400 obstacle was removed.
He denied reports that Türkiye had told Washington it could transfer the systems to the United Arab Emirates.
“We did not say — nor are we saying — that the S-400s are going to the UAE,” Akar said.
The Defense Ministry said on July 16 that work concerning the S-400 systems was continuing “in multiple dimensions” and that the public would be informed when there were concrete developments.
Gümrükçü described the S-400 purchase as a “one-off procurement” made to fill an urgent air defense gap after Türkiye was unable to obtain alternative systems from its allies.
Akar also rejected Israeli opposition to Türkiye’s potential return to the F-35 program, while Gümrükçü described objections from Greece and some U.S. lawmakers as “unnecessary politics,” arguing that NATO members should welcome stronger defense capabilities among allies.
