Turkey says it hopes to achieve result on lifting U.S. sanctions soon

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday that Turkey hopes to achieve a result on lifting US sanctions and its desire ​to purchase F-35 fighter jets soon, adding there should be no defence ‌industry restrictions between allies.

US President Donald Trump, who visited Ankara this week for a NATO Summit, announced on Tuesday that he would lift US sanctions imposed on Turkey over its purchase of ​Russian S-400 defence missile systems.

Speaking to state broadcaster TRT Haber, Fidan said ​there was political will from both Ankara and Washington on removing ⁠the sanctions, and that the relevant ministers were working to resolve the issue.

In ​2020, Washington imposed sanctions on Turkey under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) ​over its acquisition of the S-400s. It also removed Ankara from the F-35 stealth fighter jet programme. The U.S. Congress passed legislation requiring Turkey to end possession of the S-400s in order to ​rejoin the F-35 programme.

Fidan said that there were two matters to be resolved ​in Turkey-U.S. relations that are subject to U.S. legislation.

"CAATSA is one of them. The issue of the ‌F-35 ⁠jets is another... God willing, we will reach a conclusion soon; in other words, I do not think there will be any problems in this regard," Fidan said in his remarks broadcast on TRT.

Two sources told Reuters this week that Trump was ​expected to throw his ​support behind the ⁠potential sale of F-35s during the visit to Ankara. Trump said he "has not totally made up his mind" on the issue.

Turkish ​daily newspaper Hurriyet reported, opens new tab on Friday that Turkey could announce it would ​resell the ⁠S-400s to one of the Gulf nations as soon as Friday in order to persuade the U.S. to sell F-35 jets to Ankara.

Asked on Friday about the media report ⁠and ​whether Turkey had sought Russia's permission for such a ​deal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had been in contact with Ankara over what he described aQs an "extremely ​sensitive issue".

-Reuters