Turkey stakes its claim over F-35 payment: Erdoğan

Turkey was excluded from the F-35 joint fighter program in mid-2019 after it deployed the Russian S-400 air defense systems. The U.S. seized five F-35s Turkey had paid for and did not reimburse $1.4 billion. Recently, Turkey asked for the purchase of 40 F-16 fighters and 80 modernization kits for its existing planes in a bid not to weaken its air forces.

Erdoğan said Defense Minister Hulusi Akar would meet his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin, and discuss the matter directly. Both defense ministers are attending a two-day NATO meeting in Brussels. “I believe there will be progress,” Erdoğan said.

“We will talk on all these with [U.S. President Joe] Biden in Rome during the G20 meeting. I will ask ‘What are we doing, what is going on?’ We will not allow Turkey’s rights to be breached in any way,” Erdoğan stated.