The US is ready to return Türkiye to the program for the production of American fifth-generation fighters F-35 if the issue with the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems acquired by Ankara can be resolved, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said in an interview with CNN Türk, Report informs referring to TASS.

The US was in the process of negotiating the sale of the Patriot air defense system, and while they were going on, Türkiye went in a different direction. Obviously, if the issue with the S-400 is resolved, the US will be happy again to welcome Türkiye into the F-35 family, she said.

by Rzgnbhr

26 comments

  3. Donating them to Ukraine and then buying F-35s & Patriots would be just the best of both worlds

  4. That is one reason more we need a European pillar inside NATO.

    HOW ON EARTH CAN YOU GIVE ERDOGAN THESE WEAPONS WHEN HE THREATENS GREECE, ANOTHER NATO NATION.

    Joe you are a fool and your weak leadership will not be taken lightly!

  5. I thought Turkey didn’t need F35, they build their own 8th gen fighter and F-16s are only to close the gap.

    I thought Turkey wouldn’t be dictated from who should they buy weapons from.

    I thought F35 has so many problems and it’s so bad it’s not worth it anyway.

    I thought Turkey doesn’t want to be dependent on other countries.

    Surely all these arguments from Turkey all these years couldn’t have been complete and total copium? Ain’t no way!

  6. S400 is garbage and only morons like erdogan take putin’s word that it’s the best defence system in the world. The guy is as gullible as a labrador

  7. Well let’s give it to Ukraine or some ex-Soviet Turkic countries and get it. It was mistake buying them instead of Patriots(it failed because we wanted to buy technology transfer. Why would they sell it to us as we would create new cheapier Patriot misilles to sell other countries?)

  8. I don’t think f35 program is that much important to affect turkeys neutral position.

    Turkey gains more with “balanced” approach between west and east and this will surely change russian / iranian stance towards turkey and they will sanction turkey for it, latvia / finland etc also has border to russia but they are considered “european” and in EU , so that they obviosly trust something which they are being part of, however turkey is not in EU and does not trust west nor should rest solely on it, west has diffefent opinions about southeastern turkey and whom to call as “terrorists”. The biggest threat to turkish national integrity is PKK/YPG and we very well know the western stance on those, plus the cyprus issue showed that how west does twisted stuff. I don’t think they will give those to turkey, they might ask money for those again altough they hijacked it and didn’t give the money back, cyprus is a very good example that west should not be trusted after the greek part voted against unification whereas turks agreed for it and how EU handled the situation and legitimacy of the island afterwards.

    So i think this will damage turkey’s balanced middleman approach and create tensions between russia and iran and it is not worth in the long run. Turkey will have it’s gen 5 jets by 2029 and does not need ” better alternatives ” at the cost of turning partners into enemies.

  9. I doubt there is a way back to F35 anytime soon for Turkey.

  10. I am 40 years old. I’ve never seen/heard a any Russian anti air systems actually doing anything meaningful in any combat. Not in Libya, Egypt, Serbia, Syria, Iran, Ukraine or Armenia etc..

    Getting kicked out of F35 program weeks before the arrival of first jets for 2 Russian air defense systems is probably the worst military decision in entire human history.

  11. Yea well Turkey always expects stuff in return we have the upper hand and should do the same. Cooperation in Syria and Iraq no more striking SDF and calling them PKK. Cooperation with Armenia and Azerbaijan. Stop supporting Hamas terrorists. Then maybe we can talk

  13. No way Turkey managed to blackmail their way back into the F-35 programme in exchange for giving up a SAM system whose only purpose is to defend from missiles by eating them. That’s fucking impressive.

  14. This is fairly ahistorical. Turkey wanted the Patriot air defence system, and had been pleading for it for years, and the US would throw up barrier after barrier.

    It was only when Turkey became frustrated with the constant pussyfooting that they decided to go ahead with the purchase of the S-400. This was a case of an ally who felt that the US wasn’t being in any way forthcoming and felt there was no recourse but to look at alternatives.

  15. The s400 has never been activated and is still collecting dust. In fact US will sanction Turkey even more if they activate. So I guess this is the reason why there is a chance of Turkey coming back to the program.

    I just wonder what the response of the Russians will be if Turkey wants to return it or wants to donate it to Ukraine. I’m pretty sure Russians will come with threats.

  16. How about US return first, then expect Turkey to resign S400?

  17. Dont. Turkey represents the same threat as Russia. The same mentality.

  18. S-400 was a big mistake in terms of international politics, even for a master strategist(!) like Erdogan. I hope these are not just sweet words and come to pass.

    Türkiye is developing indigenous air defense systems like HISAR and SIPER. Once they are complete, we will have no use for S-400s. Then, I hope we can ditch them somewhere and get back in the project.

  19. People are saying donate to Ukraine. The bigger blow is giving them to the US so exploits can be found.

  20. Imagine giving weapons to an “ally” that threatens to hit Athens Greece with a missile attack and has effectively a Putin style dictatorship.

  21. I think with the recent drone attacks the USA wants to keep every ally close, but Turkey wants data transfers and to be more independent geopolitically so it won’t be feasible to be reincluded back in the program.

  22. Shouldn’t be touching Turkey with a barge pole.

  23. I don’t understand this, have Turks been living under a rock or something? this has been the U.S position since day one of this drama, is this breaking news? The U.S made their reasoning for removing Turkey from the program extremely clear and the U.S has been extremely fair and mature in their dealings with the Turks, communicating their grievances very clearly, and leaving the possibility of rapprochement on the issue very much open

  24. Turkey is at best a purely self-interested NATO member who will never answer the Article 5 call if it’s about defending Europe, and is arguably an extension of Russia into NATO.

    This would be unbelievably stupid.

  25. US and Europe supported and encouraged Islamists for years and years in Turkey. I am not sure you have the right complain about Erdogan when your countries helped him to totally destroy democracy and Turkey being an unpredictable ally.

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