Erdogan bets on Biden for the F-35

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he hopes to solve the US F-35 fighter jet, which US President Donald Trump has refused to deliver to the Turks.

Erdogan said, “We paid huge sums for the F-35 fighter jets, and despite that it has not been delivered to us so far, and this is a grave mistake that our ally America committed against us.”

The Turkish president indicated that he hoped that the fighters, known as “stealth”, would be handed over to Turkey, after Biden assumed the presidency of the United States on the 20th of this month.

Relations between the two countries, NATO members, were severely strained in 2019, when Turkey bought Russian S-400 defense systems, prompting Washington to threaten to impose sanctions and suspend its participation in the manufacture and purchase of the American F-35 fighter.

Despite reaching an agreement in November 2019, Turkey has repeatedly confirmed that there has been little progress in resolving a dispute with the United States over Ankara’s purchase of Russian defense systems and American fighters.

Washington says that the “S-400” systems are not compatible with NATO systems, threatening the stealth capabilities of the F-35 fighters produced by “Lockheed Martin”, while Ankara rejects this and says that the systems will not be integrated into the defense of the alliance.