The prominent Greek newspaper Kathimerini evaluated the F-35 agenda between Turkey and the USA. The news article mentioned that “Israel’s serious reactions and Greece’s concerns regarding losing its qualitative superiority in the air will also be taken into account in the final decision.”

According to Kathimerini, there has been a behind-the-scenes movement in Washington within the last 24 hours following the phone conversation between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and US President Donald Trump.

The newspaper wrote, “It seems like there is an effort to find a way to lift sanctions against Ankara, whose ultimate goal is to rejoin the F-35 program.” Information started circulating shortly after the call between Trump and Erdoğan that ways to legally and politically enable the removal of sanctions imposed on Turkey for owning the Russian S-400 systems were being explored in Washington. The sources mentioned that, in this context, the possibility of destroying some parts of the systems to render them inoperable was also being considered. The news article stated, “Not everyone in the US government agrees on the possibility of lifting sanctions that could pave the way for developments related to the F-35; Israel’s serious reactions and Greece’s concerns regarding losing its qualitative superiority in the air will be taken into account in the final decision.” Kathimerini mentioned, “If Trump decides to show political willingness to resolve the sanctions issue, then things will become easier.” It included the following remarks: “This is because the CAATSA law foresees that the US president can waive, terminate, or impose additional sanctions based on specific and listed analytical reasons related to US national security. The sole condition for the President to take this step is to present an informative report to the relevant congressional committees explaining the reasons for his decision. It should be noted that this report is solely for informational purposes and does not provide Congress with the opportunity to raise objections, concerns, or opposing views.” A report based on information from two sources knowledgeable about the matter was published on the American Fox News channel the other day, indicating that Trump had discussed the sale of F-35 aircraft to Ankara. According to the report, it was mentioned that Trump considered lifting sanctions against Turkey after his conversation with President Erdoğan. It was stated in the news report that, “Trump indicated that he was open to the idea of selling F-35 aircraft to Turkey if the two sides reach an agreement that would render Turkey’s S-400 systems inoperable.” The report mentioned that for these aircraft to be sold to Turkey, the USA would need to lift the sanctions of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), and therefore, Trump instructed his team to work on “how Turkey could avoid CAATSA sanctions.” During the phone conversation between President Erdoğan and President Trump on March 16, many bilateral and regional issues were thoroughly discussed.