Fatih Erbakan, the leader of Turkey’s Islamist opposition New Welfare Party (YRP), on Friday asked why Ankara has still not received F-35 fighter jets after Washington approved a possible sale of 48 of the aircraft to Saudi Arabia.
“Where are the F-35 fighter jets for which we paid in advance and were a partner in the project?” Erbakan asked in a post on X.
He said there was still “no signature, no timetable and no legal guarantee” for Turkey.
Erbakan also referred to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s close relationship with US President Donald Trump and recalled expectations that the July NATO summit in Ankara would lead to movement on the F-35 dispute.
At the summit on July 7, Trump said he would lift sanctions on Turkey and would make a decision on a possible F-35 sale, but he did not announce Turkey’s return to the program.
The US State Department on Thursday approved a possible $24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35 jets and 49 engines to Saudi Arabia, subject to congressional review.
If completed, the sale would make Saudi Arabia the first Arab country to operate the F-35, while Israel is currently the only Middle Eastern state flying the aircraft.
Turkey had planned to buy 100 F-35s and was also a production partner, making parts for the jet.
Washington began removing Turkey from the program in 2019 after Ankara took delivery of Russia’s S-400 air defense system.
US officials said operating the S-400 and the F-35 together could expose sensitive information about the stealth jet to Russia, an argument Ankara has rejected.
The United States imposed sanctions in 2020 on Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industry (SSB) over the S-400 purchase.
Turkey says it paid about $1.4 billion into the F-35 program before its removal and has long demanded either the aircraft, readmission to the program or repayment.
Erdoğan said in January that Turkey’s receipt of aircraft it had already paid for and its return to the program were “important and necessary.”
After the NATO summit, Turkish officials said the two sides were closer to resolving the dispute, but no agreement or delivery schedule was announced.
The US State Department told Congress in July that Turkey still had not met the legal conditions for receiving F-35s, with US law continuing to bar a transfer while the S-400 issue remains unresolved.
The F-35 dispute remains one of the main unresolved issues in US-Turkish defense ties despite warmer contacts between Erdoğan and Trump this year.
