Türkiye's foreign minister said his country wants the US to return the money it paid for the F-35 fighter jet, instead of waiting for Washington to allow Ankara to return to the project.
"We want our money back immediately, they need to return the money that was transferred by Türkiye. The ministries are coordinating and determining the steps that will be taken," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview on May 13, referring to the US F-35 stealth fighter program.
Mr. Cavusoglu affirmed that Türkiye does not want to wait for the US Congress to approve the possibility of allowing Ankara to return to the F-35 project. "That happened with the Patriot air defense missile deal," he said.
The F-35A fighter jet built by the US for Turkey took a test flight in 2018. Photo: Aviationist
The President of the General Directorate of Defense Industries of Türkiye (SBB), Ismail Demir, affirmed on the same day that he supports the option of not buying F-35 fighters "even if the US side begs". "The domestic stealth fighter project TF-X Kaan can produce a product that is even better than the US aircraft", the SBB leader said.
Türkiye is one of the countries participating in the F-35 stealth fighter project and ordered more than 100 F-35As manufactured by the US corporation Lockheed Martin, but was removed from the program in 2019 after purchasing the Russian-made S-400 air defense system.
Turkish officials at the time affirmed that the contract to buy the S-400 systems was only carried out after Washington did not respond to the proposal to sell long-range Patriot air defense systems to Ankara.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in October 2021 that Washington had proposed selling F-16s to offset the $1.4 billion Ankara invested in the F-35 project. However, the deal is still under informal review, with the possibility that the US Congress will not give the green light if Türkiye does not approve Sweden's NATO membership.
Vu Anh (According to CNN Turk )
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