At NATO summit meeting with Erdogan in Ankara, Trump praised Turkey’s loyalty and said a decision was coming on F-35 jets, while Erdogan said Trump had promised Ankara five aircraft and ‘always keeps his promises’

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would make a decision on a potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, as he opened a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the NATO summit in Ankara.

“It’s a decision we’re going to make,” Trump said when asked about allowing Turkey to resume buying the advanced fighter jets. “We have a very good relationship.” He added: “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, so, yeah, it’s something certainly we would consider.”

Erdogan said he hoped for a positive result on Ankara’s request to buy F-35 fighter jets, adding that Trump had previously promised to provide Turkey with five jets and that “he always keeps his promises.”

Turkey had been a buyer and manufacturer in the F-35 program before it was expelled in 2020 over its purchase of Russian S-400 defense systems. Ankara has called the move unjust and demanded either the jets it paid for, reinstatement in the program or reimbursement.

Erdogan said he would also discuss the war in Ukraine with Trump, as well as engines for Turkey’s KAAN fighter jet program. Trump said Turkey had bought planes and suggested Washington had a duty to support their engines. “Turkey bought planes, I think we have an obligation to maintain engines,” he said. Asked about sanctions imposed on Turkey under CAATSA, the U.S. sanctions law targeting transactions with Russia’s defense sector, Trump said the United States would be lifting sanctions.

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