Turkey will get American F-35 fighter jets sooner or later, said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday.
“IT IS DONE DEAL”
“Sooner or later, we will receive the delivery of the F-35s, their equipment, and S-400s, too, will come to our country,” President Erdoğan said in Istanbul, where he met with young people. “There is absolutely no question of stepping back on the S-400 issue. It’s a done deal,” Erdoğan added.
Tensions between the US and Turkey have reached a fever pitch in recent months with Turkey set to begin receiving the advanced S-400 Russian surface-to-air missile system that Washington said will jeopardize Turkey’s role in the F-35 fighter jet program and which could trigger congressional sanctions.
Turkey decided in 2017 to purchase the S-400 system following protracted efforts to purchase air defense systems from the US with no success.
