{"id":253978,"date":"2025-09-25T16:18:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T16:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/253978\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T16:18:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T16:18:09","slug":"trump-hosts-turkeys-erdogan-as-us-considers-lifting-f-35-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/253978\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump hosts Turkey’s Erdogan as US considers lifting F-35 ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump<\/a> is holding talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House on Thursday with the Republican leader signaling that the U.S. government\u2019s hold on sales of advanced fighter jets to Ankara may soon be lifted.<\/p>\n

During Trump\u2019s first term, the United States kicked out Turkey,<\/a> a NATO ally, from its flagship F-35 fighter jet program after it purchased an air defense system from Russia. U.S. officials worried that Turkey\u2019s use of Russia\u2019s S-400 surface-to-air missile system could be used to gather data on the capabilities of the F-35 and that the information could end up in Russian hands.<\/p>\n

Trump started his Oval Office meeting with Erdogan by offering hope that a resolution to the matter could be hatched during the day\u2019s talks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs certain things, and we need certain things, and we\u2019re going to come to a conclusion,\u201d Trump said. \u201cYou\u2019ll know by the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The visit is Erdogan\u2019s first trip to the White House since 2019. The two leaders forged what Trump has described as a \u201cvery good relationship\u201d during his first White House go-around despite the U.S.-Turkey relationship often being complicated.<\/p>\n

U.S. officials have cited concerns about Turkey\u2019s human rights record under Erdogan and the country\u2019s ties with Russia. Tensions between Turkey and Israel, another important American ally, over Gaza and Syria have at times made relations difficult with Turkey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best thing he could do is not buy oil and gas from Russia,\u201d Trump said of Erdogan. <\/p>\n

Trump added that Erdogan is respected by both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think he could have a big influence if he wants to,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

Erdogan has made clear he\u2019s eager to see the hold on F-35s lifted. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s very becoming of strategic partnership, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the right way to go,\u201d Erdogan said in an interview this week on Fox News Channel\u2019s \u201cSpecial Report with Bret Baier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turkish officials say they have already made a $1.4 billion payment for the jets.<\/p>\n

Past reluctance to engage with Turkey<\/p>\n

President Joe Biden\u2019s administration kept Erdogan, who has served as Turkey\u2019s president since 2014 and was prime minister for more than a decade before that, at an arm\u2019s length during the Democrat\u2019s four years in office.<\/p>\n

The reluctance to engage deeply was borne out of Turkey\u2019s record of democratic backsliding as well as Ankara\u2019s close ties to Moscow.<\/p>\n

Opposition parties and human rights organizations have accused Erdogan of undermining democracy<\/a> and curbing freedom of expression during his more than two decades in power. International observers say that baseless investigations and prosecutions of human rights activists, journalists, opposition politicians and others remain a persistent problem in Turkey.<\/p>\n

But Trump sees Erdogan as a critical partner and credible intermediary in his effort to find ends to the wars in Ukraine<\/a> and Gaza.<\/a> The Trump administration is also largely in sync with Turkey\u2019s approach to Syria as both nations piece together their posture toward the once isolated country after the fall of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad last December.<\/p>\n

Trump and European leaders have followed Erdogan in embracing Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa<\/a>, who once commanded a rebel group that was designated a foreign terrorist organization. <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s chief diplomat, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, met with al-Sharaa<\/a> on Monday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.<\/p>\n

Erdogan sees a key role for Turkey<\/p>\n

Erdogan has sought to position his country as a point of stability<\/a> in a tumultuous moment. He believes Turkey can play an essential role for European security and is able to span geopolitical divisions over Ukraine, Syria and U.S. tariffs that have sparked a global trade war.<\/p>\n

Turkey also believes it has emerged as a credible broker in the Black Sea region, preserving relations with both Ukraine and Russia. <\/p>\n

Turkey is an influential actor in neighboring Syria as the rebel groups it supported during the civil war took power last December. However, the fall of Assad aggravated already tense relations between Turkey and Israel, with their conflicting interests pushing the relationship toward a possible collision course<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump, for his part, has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be \u201creasonable\u201d in his dealings with Ankara.<\/p>\n

Erdogan on Tuesday took part in a group meeting hosted by Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Trump gathered the leaders of eight Arab and Muslim countries to discuss the nearly two-year-old Gaza war.<\/p>\n

The Turkish leader has been sharply critical of Israel\u2019s handling of the war, which was launched after Hamas militants launched an Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel in which 1,200 were killed and 251 were taken captive. Over 65,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry, and about 90% of homes in the territory have been destroyed or damaged.<\/p>\n

Erdogan in his Tuesday address at the U.N. once again laid into Israel, alleging its forces have committed genocide, an allegation rebutted by Israel and United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a fight against terrorism,\u201d Erdogan said. \u201cThis is an occupation, deportation, exile, genocide and life destruction, mass destruction policy carried on by invoking the events of October the 7th.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump is holding talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":253979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[97,36305,13224,372,12785,84,69,57,2055,118,3462,82,410,8132,50,80,32307,24922,32308,36679,370,274,3656,96,93,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-253978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","9":"tag-ahmad-al-sharaa","10":"tag-bashar-assad","11":"tag-benjamin-netanyahu","12":"tag-dc-wire","13":"tag-district-of-columbia","14":"tag-donald-trump","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-government-and-politics","17":"tag-human-rights","18":"tag-israel-government","19":"tag-joe-biden","20":"tag-marco-rubio","21":"tag-military-and-defense","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-recep-tayyip-erdogan","25":"tag-turkey","26":"tag-turkey-government","27":"tag-united-nations-general-assembly","28":"tag-united-states-government","29":"tag-vladimir-putin","30":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","31":"tag-war-and-unrest","32":"tag-washington-news","33":"tag-world","34":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}