Turkey in talks to rejoin the US F-35 fighter jet programme, envoy reveals

Turkey is in talks with the US about rejoining Washington's F-35 fighter jet programme, and the US hopes the discussions will lead to a breakthrough in the next few months, the US ambassador to Turkey has said.

Washington removed Ankara from Lockheed Martin's advanced F-35 programme and imposed sanctions five years ago following Turkey's purchase of Russian S-400 air defence systems. 

Ankara has commented that the move was unjust and hoped that the parties could hammer out the issue during US president Donald Trump's second term. 

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"The United States is in ongoing discussions with Turkey regarding their desire to rejoin the F-35 programme and their possession of the Russian-made S-400 air defence system," Ambassador Tom Barrack said in a post on X. 

Mr Barrack said that US law will not allow Turkey to operate or possess the S-400 system if it wants to return to the F-35 programme. 

The former senior adviser to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign added that the relationship between Mr Trump and Turkey's president Tayyip Erdogan has created a new atmosphere of cooperation, which has led to "the most fruitful conversations we have had on this topic in nearly a decade".

"Our hope is that these talks will yield a breakthrough in the coming months that meets both the security requirements of the United States and Turkey," Mr Barrack added. 

Ankara's foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, told Reuters that he thought Turkey and the US would find a way to remove American sanctions "very soon" and that the Nato allies had begun working on the issue. 

Turkey's possession of the S-400s has remained the main stumbling block to the country rejoining the F-35 programme. 

Washington believes that the S-400s are a threat to its F-35 fighter jets and to Nato's wider defence systems. 

However, Turkey has rejected that assertion and said the S-400s will not be integrated into Nato. 

Turkish officials have repeatedly declined to reverse their decision to possess S-400s to return to the F-35 programme.