Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a news conference in Rome, Sept. 11, 2025. [Gregorio Borgia/AP Photo]
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated during a press conference in New York that if the United States does not lift the CAATSA sanctions preventing Turkey from purchasing F-35s and engines for its home-produced KAAN fighter jet, Ankara will seek alternative solutions.
Furthermore, Fidan said that during the Trump–Erdogan meeting, the two sides agreed to work toward resolving the problems hindering the development of US–Turkey relations.
“One of our problems is the issue of CAATSA, which emerged after 2019. For us, CAATSA is a systemic problem that blocks the trade of defense systems between two allies. For example, there is the issue of the F-35s and the KAAN fighter jet engines, whose license is stuck in Congress,” said Fidan.
“The license must be granted for the engines to arrive so that production of the KAAN can begin. It may appear to be a technical issue, but systemically, when restrictions are placed on our relations with the US, this inevitably drives us to seek alternatives in the international system.”