Leaders stress cooperation on defence, trade, and regional stability at NATO summit in The Hague. Turkiye has F-35, F-16 Block 70 and CAATSA on defence agenda.
Turkish Presidency announced that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with U.S. President Donald J. Trump. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the NATO Heads of State and Government Summit in The Hague.
The Meeting addressed the Türkiye-U.S. bilateral relations, focussing on how to improve collaboration in defence, energy, and investment. Erdoğan said that the objective was to attain a trade volume of $100 billion.
Voicing his pleasure over the ceasefire established between Israel and Iran with the efforts of President Trump of the U.S., President Erdoğan expressed his hope that it will be permanent, and underscored the importance of close dialogue in immediately ending the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza and in peacefully resolving the Russia-Ukraine war. As the alliance's major partners, both presidents stressed how important it is to work together to strengthen NATO's deterrent capabilities.
TurDef assumes that at the core of current defence relations between the two countries are Türkiye’s efforts to acquire F-35 aircraft, the $23 billion F-16 modernisation and sales package, and the continued impact of U.S. CAATSA sanctions. Turkiye dropped the modernisation part out of package but there is no development regarding CAATSA. Turkish Aerospace’s T-70 helicopter production line is currently on hold due to the sanctions. The production is part of TUHP.
Author: Özgür Ekşi
