Trump and Erdogan discuss F-35s
Photo: AP
US President Donald Trump proposed that the U.S. could lift sanctions on Turkey and allow it to purchase U.S. F-35 jets as he began talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, while also urging Ankara to cease buying oil from Russia.
Erdogan's first visit to the White House in about six years comes at a time when Ankara is keen to take advantage of a U.S. administration eager to make deals in return for big-ticket arms and trade agreements, News.Az reports citing Reuters.
Seated side by side in the Oval Office, Trump called Erdogan a "very tough man" and said he would like to see Türkiye stop purchases of Russian oil.
Türkiye, Hungary and Slovakia are the main European purchasers of Russian oil and Trump is pressing for them to stop.
"I'd like to have him stop buying any oil from Russia while Russia continues this rampage against Ukraine," Trump said of Erdogan.
Asked whether he was willing to make a deal to sell F-35s to Turkey, Trump told reporters: "I think he'll be successful in buying the things that he wants to buy." Trump also said he could lift sanctions against Türkiye "very soon," and that "if we have a good meeting, almost immediately."
He said they would discuss the issue in their Oval Office talks followed by lunch.
Former President Joe Biden had kept Türkiye at arm's length partly over what it saw as the fellow NATO member's close ties with Russia. Under Trump, who views Moscow more favorably and has closer personal ties with Erdogan, Ankara is hoping for a better relationship.
Trump and Erdogan - both seen as increasingly autocratic by their critics at home - had a checkered relationship during the Republican president's first term. But since his return to the White House, their interests have aligned on Syria - source of the biggest bilateral strain in the past - where the U.S. and Türkiye now both strongly back the central government.
They remain sharply at odds over U.S. ally Israel's attacks on Gaza, which Ankara calls a genocide - a potential wild card in what are otherwise expected to be friendly and transactional talks in the Oval Office.
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