Erdogan’s extraordinary request from Putin is on the way to receiving the F35

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Putin to return to Russia the advanced S-400 air defense system that Turkey purchased from it in 2019, Bloomberg reported yesterday (Wednesday). According to the report, the move is intended to allow Turkey to move forward with the US in the deal to purchase F35 fighter jets.

According to the report, Erdogan told Putin these things in their meeting in Turkmenistan during the last weekend. Since it acquired the advanced system from Russia six years ago – it has become the main bone of contention in the political-security relations between Washington and Ankara. With the purchase of the system in 2019 – the previous Trump administration removed Turkey from the stealth program of the F35 aircraft with which it was a partner.

In recent times, Turkey has accelerated its efforts in trying to obtain advanced F35 aircraft, similar to Saudi Arabia’s efforts to purchase one of the fighter jets that only Israel currently possesses in the Middle East. Tom Brack, the US ambassador to Turkey, recently said that he believes that “within months” the US and Turkey will be able to move forward to resolve the last obstacle that stands in the way of closing the deal. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Khan Fidan also recently expressed optimism towards the progress of the deal.

Officials in the Turkish Ministry of Defense denied the Bloomberg report in statements published in Turkish media. According to local reports, Turkey insists that it will keep the S-400 air defense system.

Since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, he has reiterated his affection and good relations with Erdogan, among other things, giving him great credit for Turkey’s assistance in promoting the agreement to end the war between Israel and Hamas. In recent years, Turkey has been determined to greatly strengthen the Turkish Air Force, which is considered outdated and very weak – especially compared to the air forces of its two major regional rivals – Greece and Israel.

Although the F35 aircraft deal from the US to Turkey is still far from being closed, if it does come to fruition it will cause another serious blow to Israel’s qualitative advantage in the region from a security point of view. According to a Reuters report in recent weeks, in the context of the supply of F35 aircraft to Saudi Arabia – the US intends to supply the Arab kingdom with aircraft with reduced technological capabilities than those of the aircraft supplied to Israel, thus maintaining, at least to some extent, the advantage The best of the IDF.