Turkey’s Defense Ministry has hired Ballard Partners, a Washington lobbying firm with close ties to US President Donald Trump, on a yearlong contract worth $2.4 million, Middle East Eye reported, citing US Justice Department filings.
The agreement took effect on August 15 and runs through August 14, 2027, according to the official filing. A separate report by the public relations industry publication O’Dwyer’s said Ballard will receive $200,000 a month for one year.
Ballard disclosed the ministry as a foreign principal in an August 21 filing under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires certain agents working for foreign interests in the United States to register with the Justice Department.
Under the agreement, Ballard will provide government relations, strategic consulting and advocacy services on defense and security matters involving Turkey and the United States.
The firm will advocate before the federal government and keep the ministry informed of relevant legislative and policy developments.
The firm will report to Lt. Gen. İlkay Altındağ, the ministry’s director general for defense and security, according to O’Dwyer’s.
Brian Ballard, a prominent Florida Republican fundraiser who worked on Trump’s presidential campaign, will lead the account.
The team also includes former Democratic congressman Robert Wexler of Florida, who co-founded the Congressional Caucus on US-Turkey Relations and Turkish Americans in 2001, and Syl Lukis, a senior partner at the firm.
Another member is Thomas Boodry, who served as a special assistant to Trump and as senior director for legislative affairs at the National Security Council until April 2025.
Ballard Partners reported $30.4 million in federal lobbying revenue during the first quarter of 2026, the largest total among Washington lobbying firms tracked in an industry survey and more than double its revenue from the same period a year earlier.
F-35 dispute
The contract does not identify the specific defense issues on which Ballard will lobby. It comes, however, as Ankara is pressing Washington to readmit Turkey to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and lift sanctions imposed over its purchase of the Russian-made S-400 air defense system.
The United States removed Turkey from the program in 2019, saying the S-400 could compromise the security of the advanced fighter jet. Washington imposed sanctions on Turkey’s defense procurement agency the following year under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Trump said at a NATO summit in Ankara in July that reversing Turkey’s exclusion from the program was “something certainly we would consider” and that he wanted to lift the sanctions.
However, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said US law requires that the sanctions remain in place until Turkey removes the S-400 system.
MEE reported in July that Ankara was considering selling the system to a third country, potentially the United Arab Emirates, in an effort to resolve the dispute.
Turkey also wants to take delivery of six F-35s that were manufactured for its air force but have remained in storage in the United States, according to MEE.
Previous Turkey contract
Ballard Partners previously represented the Turkish government during Trump’s first term on a $1.5 million contract signed in 2017, shortly after the firm opened its Washington office.
The firm’s work at the time reportedly included the US criminal case against Turkish state-owned lender Halkbank, which had been accused of helping Iran evade American sanctions.
A federal court dismissed the charges against Halkbank with prejudice in June after the bank fulfilled the terms of a deferred prosecution agreement with the US government.
