President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkiye demanded the lifting of other "unilateral" economic restrictions that prevent NATO partners from meeting long-term bilateral trade targets, as well as the lifting of US sanctions that prevent his nation from making certain defence purchases.
As per the report, many issues have soured relations between the allies in recent years, including policy differences in the eastern Mediterranean, Syria, and Gaza as well as Ankara's acquisition of Russian S-400 air defence systems, which led to sanctions from the United States and Turkiye’sexclusion from the F-35 fighter jet program in 2019.
Following that, Ankara set out to obtain from Washington 40 Block-70 F-16 fighter aircraft and 79 modernisation kits. Following Turkey's approval of Sweden's NATO request and a thawing of relations, the deal was accepted.
Long-term bilateral commerce between Washington and Ankara is expected to reach $100 billion, up from roughly $30 billion in 2023.
Erdogan informed Turkish and American businessmen that although he thought the aim could be achieved, collaboration in the defence industry had "fallen very short" of its potential because of the existing constraints when in New York for the U.N. General Assembly.
"For this, unilateral applications like additional tariffs in the iron, steel, and aluminum sectors, probes and the CAATSA sanctions need to be abandoned," he said on Monday, referring to the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
"I hope we have turned a new page with the F-16 modernisation project, and we expect export restrictions in this field to be permanently lifted," Erdogan added.
He mentioned that Turkey was beneficial for supply chains and gave the production and procurement of 155mm ammunition as an example, which is an important shell in the Ukraine-Russia war.
