Trump says ‘will consider’ selling F-35s to Turkey
Turkey has long sought to revive its participation in the F-35 programme and lift US sanctions on its defence sector
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomes US President Donald Trump at Esenboga Airport ahead of the Nato Summit in Ankara. (EPA Images pic)
ANKARA: US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Washington would consider selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey after booting it out of the programme in 2019 over Ankara’s purchase of a Russian system.
“That’s a decision we’re going to make… it’s a great plane, the best plane by far and it’s certainly something we will consider,” Trump said, sitting next to Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan after landing in Ankara for a Nato summit.
Turkey has long sought to resolve the question of its readmittance to the F-35 programme and the lifting of US sanctions that have soured ties and hampered Turkish defence projects and has looked to Trump’s visit to break the deadlock.
When the pair met at the White House last September, both leaders expressed a desire to draw a line under the matter, although lifting the sanctions is a congressional decision.
Asked if he would lift the CAATSA sanctions, Trump said: “We’re going to be taking the sanctions off.”
“We don’t want to sanction friends,” he added.
Sitting next to him, Erdogan said he was confident Trump would resolve the issue and end the dispute.
“Mr Trump has also personally given us his word on this matter,” he said through a translator.
“On this issue, Mr Trump always stands by his word. Here again, God willing, I believe a favourable decision on the F-35s will emerge from this leaders’ summit.”
“That’s a decision we’re going to make… it’s a great plane, the best plane by far and it’s certainly something we will consider,” Trump said, sitting next to Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan after landing in Ankara for a Nato summit.
Turkey has long sought to resolve the question of its readmittance to the F-35 programme and the lifting of US sanctions that have soured ties and hampered Turkish defence projects and has looked to Trump’s visit to break the deadlock.
When the pair met at the White House last September, both leaders expressed a desire to draw a line under the matter, although lifting the sanctions is a congressional decision.
Asked if he would lift the CAATSA sanctions, Trump said: “We’re going to be taking the sanctions off.”
“We don’t want to sanction friends,” he added.
Sitting next to him, Erdogan said he was confident Trump would resolve the issue and end the dispute.
“Mr Trump has also personally given us his word on this matter,” he said through a translator.
“On this issue, Mr Trump always stands by his word. Here again, God willing, I believe a favourable decision on the F-35s will emerge from this leaders’ summit.”
Why Nobody Covet Eastern Bully’s J20 or J35?
ReplyDeleteOr RasPUTIN’s SU57 ?
Guess what happened to Turkiye when she bought the Russian S-400
DeleteTurkey must now regret buying. Bang table and ask for money back lah.
DeleteAll the S300s and 400s could not protect RasPUTIN’s oil refineries. Some of the Ukrainian drones flew thousands of km over RasPUTIN’s territory undetected.
Wakakakaka…
Delete'…Some of the Ukrainian drones flew thousands of km'
Oooop… only in yr wet dream can any Ukrainian drones flew thousands of km!
The Russian Omsk oil refinery is today burning very brightly (videos shared by ordinary Russians) from multiple Ukrainian drones that have flown 3,200 km from Ukraine.
Delete💥 The last bastion has fallen! Omsk Oil Refinery has suspended operations — Reuters
ReplyDeleteUntil recently, it had been the only major Russian refinery that had not been hit by Ukrainian drone attacks. But now the drones have reached it too.
The Omsk refinery is the largest oil refinery in Russia. It produced roughly one in every eight liters of gasoline used in the country.
https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/2074512146839265511?s=46&t=8K6fzabO3g6uaj4KxwSSjg
fake fart
DeleteDifficult to Repair or Get Spare Sparts…
ReplyDeleteThe target selection at the Omsk facility reveals a highly sophisticated understanding of petroleum economics, metallurgy, and refinery bottlenecks. The drones specifically impacted the ELOU-AVT-11 primary crude oil processing unit….
https://x.com/geopolitic43641/status/2074523416753795090?s=46&t=8K6fzabO3g6uaj4KxwSSjg
Good Points.
ReplyDelete..,,,.Since 2019, they have kept every last unit of their S-400s—up to 200 missiles, many still in their shipping containers. They have remained the only NATO member that refuses to sanction Russia over Ukraine. They have hosted Hamas leadership in Istanbul and laundered billions for Iran, while Erdogan openly threatens Israel with destruction and, in Benjamin Netanyahu’s words this week, “talks openly about conquering Jerusalem.” They continue to occupy half of Cyprus—a fellow EU member—and to menace Greece, another one. Not to mention, this is the same country Trump himself claims he had to stop from joining Iran in the last conflict.
If trust isn’t earned, it seems it can be bought. The salesman on the account is Tom Barrack, the billionaire real estate investor, longtime Trump friend and ambassador to Ankara. Barrack doesn’t talk about Turkey’s conduct; he talks about the deal. The seven-year ban his own boss imposed? “Insane,” he says. The legal requirement that Turkey actually give up its Russian missiles? A technicality to be workshopped—the S-400s are inactive, he assures us, so possession is just paperwork. This is, in his own words, “classic Trump deal-making.” And when trust itself came up, Barrack showed us exactly what the word weighs in his ledger: Describing the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, America’s ambassador announced that “everybody has been equally untrustworthy.”
Netanyahu appears to have known about the impending sale and tried his best to derail it. During an interview with Fox yesterday, Netanyahu, unprompted, launched into an attack on selling the technology to “a regime infected by the Muslim Brotherhood, an extreme movement that hates America and chants ‘Death to America.’”
There was already early warning of this turn in late June, when the administration notified Congress of its intent to proceed with the sale of F110 engines to power Turkey’s indigenous fifth-generation fighter, the Kaan. Speaking alongside Vice President JD Vance, the president signaled he was prepared to make Erdogan “very happy” on both the engines and potentially on readmitting Turkey to the F-35 program.
A “very happy” Erdogan sends a chill down my spine; thankfully, Congress is poised to ruin his mood. The law bars F-35 transfers so long as Turkey possesses the S-400, so the administration is hunting for a workaround: hand the systems to some unnamed third party (a mechanism, one official admits, that hasn’t been worked out), or pull a few key parts and declare them “inoperable.”
And then there’s Israel. U.S. law obligates Washington to preserve its qualitative military edge, the guarantee that Israel outflies every rival in the region. Handing the region’s premier stealth fighter to Israel’s next regional rival certainly undermines that supremacy. To preserve the gap, Israel may receive further access or compensation of that nature.
Even if Erdogan gets his announcement at this week’s NATO summit, the sale itself must survive a one-to-two-year gauntlet: some legal sleight of hand to make the S-400s “disappear,” lifting sanctions that remain in place, formal notification to Congress, and bypassing resolutions of disapproval lawmakers are already promising. Then Turkey joins the back of Lockheed’s queue, where recent customers have waited four to five years from contract to first delivery, meaning that beyond the handful of jets Turkey paid for in 2019, which are collecting dust in U.S. storage, no new F-35 is likely to fly over Anatolia before 2030. That gives Israel time—time it can use to throw up roadblocks for Turkey and to get itself into the F-47 program.
https://x.com/amitsegal/status/2074511930480377939?s=46&t=8K6fzabO3g6uaj4KxwSSjg
a F35, w/o the advanced long range radar array, is just a model.
Delete& that's what Lockheed can delivery nowadays.
But do u know, mfer
When Labour forces a by-election to insert a “pair of eyelashes and a black T-shirt” as PM it’s OK.
ReplyDeleteBut when Nigel forces one to clear his name, all He’ll Breaks Loose…..
Ooop… what happened to yr daily zionist fart?
DeleteThe fart chamber has exhausted!
Who Needs A Navy in A Bath Tub?
ReplyDelete(It’s Actually A Turkey Shoot, pun intended)
It has now emerged Ukraine hit 12 tankers in one day which is absolutely massive, they are literally waging a naval war against the Russian economy with not a single destroyer...
Absolutely insane video of Ukrainian forces targeting 8 large Russian oil tankers in the Sea of Azov last night attempting to supply fuel to besieged Crimea.
https://x.com/warmonitor3/status/2074487803094745263?s=46&t=8K6fzabO3g6uaj4KxwSSjg
'…Ukraine hit 12 tankers in one day'
Delete'…Ukrainian forces targeting 8 large Russian oil tankers in the Sea of Azov'
Wakakakaka… couldn't even get the number count right! Yet, date to fart.
A QUICK REMINDER TO PRESIDENT MACRON🚨
ReplyDeleteMacron always Bang Table about occupied West Bank and South Lebanon.
Dear @EmmanuelMacron,
ICYMI, Cyprus is illegally occupied by the country hosting the NATO summit.
Howbout this statement:
"We believe that Turkey must withdraw from Cypriot territory and that Cyprus must be fully sovereign and united, and that all actors occupying parts of its territory must leave”
https://x.com/theocharoush/status/2074589493605396617?s=46&t=8K6fzabO3g6uaj4KxwSSjg
And that was because Greece tried sneakily to absorb Cyprus via Eunosis
DeleteAll of Anatolia & Constantinople was Greek, until the Ottomans Occupied and Genocided them all. Virtually no Christians left in Turkey today. The Greatest Cathedral in the World, The Hagia Sophia was converted into a Mosque. The sheer insult. It would be equivalent to converting the Kaaba into a Kuil, Allah forbid.
DeleteTak Cukup ke? Must Rampas Cyprus pulak?
From Google:
DeletePrior to the 1974 Enosis crisis (the push for union with Greece), the Turkish Cypriot population was approximately 103,000 to 118,000, comprising about 18% of the island's total population. The Greek Cypriots represented the majority at nearly 77%
Turkey wasn't going to allow her 18% Cypriot compatriots be under Greek control (possibly an oppressive one)