Erdogan\u2019s visit to White House comes at time when Ankara keen to take advantage of US administration
\n WASHINGTON
\nPresident Donald Trump suggested the US could lift sanctions on Turkey and allow it to buy US F-35 jets as he kicked off talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, but said he wanted Ankara to stop purchases of Russian oil.
\nErdogan\u2019s first visit to the White House in about six years comes at a time when Ankara is keen to take advantage of a US administration eager to make deals in return for big-ticket arms and trade agreements.
\nSeated side by side in the Oval Office, Trump called Erdogan a \u201cvery tough man\u201d and said he would like to see Turkey stop purchases of Russian oil.
\nTurkey, Hungary, and Slovakia are the main European purchasers of Russian oil and Trump is pressing for them to stop.
\n\u201cI\u2019d like to have him stop buying any oil from Russia while Russia continues this rampage against Ukraine,\u201d Trump said of Erdogan.
\nAsked whether he was willing to make a deal to sell F-35s to Turkey, Trump told reporters: \u201cI think he\u2019ll be successful in buying the things that he wants to buy. \u201cTrump also said he could lift sanctions against Turkey \u201cvery soon,\u201d and that \u201cif we have a good meeting, almost immediately.\u201d
\nHe said they would discuss the issue in their Oval Office talks followed by lunch.
\nFormer president Joe Biden had kept Turkey at arm\u2019s length partly over what it saw as the fellow NATO member\u2019s close ties with Russia. Under Trump, who views Moscow more favorably and has closer personal ties with Erdogan, Ankara is hoping for a better relationship.
\nTrump and Erdogan \u2014 both seen as increasingly autocratic by their critics at home \u2014 had a checkered relationship during the Republican president\u2019s first term. But since his return to the White House, their interests have aligned on Syria \u2014 source of the biggest bilateral strain in the past \u2014 where the US and Turkey now both strongly back the central government.
\nThey remain sharply at odds over US ally Israel\u2019s attacks on Gaza, which Ankara calls a genocide \u2014 a potential wild card in what are otherwise expected to be friendly and transactional talks in the Oval Office.
\nUS sanctions block F-35 sales
\nThe mood shift has renewed Turkish hopes that Trump and Erdogan, who have exchanged mutual praise, can find a way around US sanctions imposed by Trump himself in 2020 over Turkey\u2019s acquisition of Russian S-400 missile defenses.
\nThat, in turn, could pave the way for Ankara to buy Lockheed Martin\u2019s advanced F-35 fighter jets, for which it was both a buyer and manufacturer until it was barred over the S-400s.
\nErdogan has said the defense industry, including the topic of F-35s and ongoing negotiations over 40 F-16 jets Ankara also wants, would be a focus of the meeting, along with regional wars, energy and trade.
\nA US official said Washington had in recent days drafted a statement of intent \u2014 a document used to facilitate talks \u2014 for several sales to Turkey, including the new F-16s that would bolster its existing fleet.
\nTurkey asked for advanced equipment and modifications on the F-16s in their order, making the jets cost more than a standard F-35, the official said. But F-35s were omitted from the draft statement because the US cannot legally sell them while Turkey has the S-400s, the person added.
\nTurkish government officials did not immediately comment on the F-16 costs. Turkey, NATO\u2019s second-largest army, wants to ramp up air power to counter what it sees as growing threats in the Middle East, Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, where it neighbours Russia and Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Erdogan\u2019s visit to White House comes at time when Ankara keen to take advantage of US administration WASHINGTON President Donald Trump suggested the US could lift sanctions on Turkey and allow it to buy US F-35 jets as he kicked off talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, but said he wanted Ankara to stop purchases […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505065,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-505049","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n