Trump pushes Turkiye on Russian oil, hints at lifting sanctions

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Thursday he believes Turkiye will agree to his request to stop purchasing Russian oil and that he may lift US sanctions on Ankara so it can buy advanced American F-35 jets.

Trump told reporters after his two hours of talks with Turkiye President Tayyip Erdogan that their meeting was “very conclusive” on a variety of issues but offered no further details about an announcement he said would be made later.

Trump has been pressing European nations to stop purchases of Russian oil in exchange for his agreement to impose tough sanctions on Moscow to try to dry up funding for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Frustrated by Russia’s refusal to halt the fighting, Trump this week in a major shift said it was possible Ukraine could reclaim all the territory it has lost to Russia.

Asked if Turkiye will stop purchasing Russian oil, Trump sounded confident. “I believe he will stop it, yeah. You know why? Because he can buy it from a lot of other people,” Trump said of Erdogan.

Two other European nations, Hungary and Slovakia, also buy Russian oil.

Trump seemed to give them a pass, saying they have limited ability to get energy elsewhere.

Ankara hoping for closer US Ties under Trump

Erdogan came to the White House for his first visit in about six years seeking Trump’s approval to lift US sanctions to allow for purchases of F-35 fighters.

Seated side by side in the Oval Office, Trump called Erdogan a “very tough man” and said they remained friends while his predecessor Joe Biden was in office. Biden kept Turkiye at arm’s length partly over what he saw as the fellow NATO member’s close ties with Russia.

Ankara is keen to leverage the friendly personal relationship with Trump to further national interests and take advantage of a US administration eager to make deals in return for big-ticket arms and trade agreements.

When Trump and Erdogan took questions from reporters during their meeting, Trump sounded willing to make a deal to sell the F-35s.

“I think he’ll be successful in buying the things that he wants to buy,” Trump said. Trump also said he could lift sanctions against Turkiye “very soon,” and that “if we have a good meeting, almost immediately.”

Trump and Erdogan - both seen as increasingly autocratic by their critics at home - had a checkered relationship during the Republican president’s first term.

But since Trump’s return to the White House, their interests have aligned on Syria - the source of the biggest bilateral strain in the past - where the U.S. and Turkiye now both strongly back the central government.

US Sanctions block F-35 sales

A warming trend in ties has renewed Turkish hopes that Trump and Erdogan, who have exchanged mutual praise, can find a way around U.S. sanctions imposed by Trump himself in 2020 over Turkiye acquisition of Russian S-400 missile defenses.

That, in turn, could pave the way for Ankara to buy Lockheed Martin’s advanced F-35 fighter jets, for which it was both a buyer and manufacturer until it was barred over the S-400s.

Erdogan had said the defense industry, including the topic of F-35s and ongoing negotiations over 40 F-16 jets Ankara also wants, would be a focus of the meeting, along with regional wars, energy and trade.

Turkiye, NATO’s second-largest army, wants to ramp up air power to counter what it sees as growing threats in the Middle East, Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, where it neighbours Russia and Ukraine.