President Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet Thursday at the White House, where the two leaders are expected to discuss the long-running rift on F-35 fighter jets and the purchase of Boeing aircraft.
It is the first visit to the White House for Mr. Erdogan since 2019 and comes after the two met during the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
In announcing the meeting, Mr. Trump said the two “have always had a very good relationship.”
He also said the two leaders are working on trade and military deals, a large-scale purchase of Boeing aircraft, a major F-16 Deal, and a continuation of the F-35 talks, which he expects to “conclude positively.”
Steven Cook, senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the Trump-Erdogan sit-down will be a “very, very big meeting.”
“There’s going to be a lot of discussion about returning Turkey to the F-35 program, Turkey’s role in Syria, what Turkey can do, very quietly, to help the situation in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
Mr. Erdogan, who has been Turkey’s president since 2014, did not visit with President Biden, who was critical of Mr. Erdogan and accused him of authoritarian policies.
Mr. Trump met with Mr. Erdogan in 2019 to address Kurdish forces in Syria and Turkey’s purchases of Russian S-400 missile defenses.
In response, the U.S. barred Turkey, a NATO ally, from being a part of the F-35 fighter jet program and obtaining U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets.
He also placed sanctions on Turkey over its military offensive against Kurdish forces in Syria.
Mr. Erdogan expressed optimism in July that Turkey would be readmitted to the program soon under an agreement with Mr. Trump.
“I believe Mr. Trump will remain loyal to the agreement we made,” Mr. Erdogan said, according to Anadolu Agency, Turkey’s state-run news agency. “I think the F-35s will be delivered to Turkey step-by-step during his term.”
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Thomas Barrack told the Agency in June that he believes the two presidents will resolve the sanction issue by year’s end.
Mr. Erdogan will also be looking to strike deals pertaining to defense and energy worth tens of billions of U.S. dollars, including the purchase of F-16 and F-35 aircraft and commercial planes.
Mr. Erdogan has separated himself from American policy and has been a fierce critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s treatment of Gaza.
“This is completely a genocide. And this genocide is caused by Netanyahu. Netanyahu mercilessly has, unfortunately, killed tens of thousands with this genocide,” Mr. Erdogan said on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report” on Monday.
He said he expects the U.S. “will also do what it needs to do, both about F-35s and also the issue of F-16s and their production, maintenance, et cetera,” and that trade relations between the countries will “improve greatly.”
“I think it will improve greatly, especially when you look at the defense industry at the top, that will come at the top. At the same time, on industry and technology, Turkey and the United States will improve their relations,” he said. “I will talk about all these things with Mr. Trump and it will be a different return to Turkey after that.”
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.