Politics & Diplomacy
Former Turkish ambassador: Ankara must forget the F-35, and fears the KAAN was hit too, after the Democratic win in Congress
Retired ambassador Selim Kuneralp wrote that Republicans’ loss of Congress closes Ankara’s road to the F-35 and may hit the KAAN fighter, whose F110 engines need congressional notification. He urged Turkey to turn back to the EU.
The Republicans’ loss of Congress in the US midterm elections closes, according to retired Turkish ambassador Selim Kuneralp, Ankara’s road to the F-35. The diplomat, who served as Turkey’s permanent representative to the European Union from 2009 to 2011, commented on the results on Wednesday, November 4, in a post on X, after Democrats secured the majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
“Trump has lost control of Congress. The government will have to give up hope, if any remains, for military sales through Congress, mainly for the F-35s. I fear the KAAN was hit too. The Trump card can no longer be played,” wrote Kuneralp, who previously also served as ambassador to Sweden and South Korea and as his country’s permanent representative to the World Trade Organization.
Why the F-35s and the engines go through Congress
Turkey was expelled from the F-35 joint programme in 2019 after taking delivery of the Russian S-400 air-defence system, and a year later the US imposed CAATSA sanctions on it. With a provision added to the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Congress banned the sale of F-35s to Turkey because it operates the S-400s, so its return to the programme or a purchase of aircraft requires a change in the law. Turkey had already paid for six aircraft, which remain in hangars in the US.
The KAAN, the fighter being developed by Turkish industry, flies with American General Electric F110 engines. Their sale requires notification to Congress, and as early as July Democratic Representative Dina Titus had filed a resolution of disapproval to halt the sale of the F110s. Reuters had written in June that the Trump administration planned to proceed with the engines despite the objections of Gregory Meeks, the leading Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. With the new majority, Democrats will take over the committees that oversee arms sales.
In July, at the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump had said it was time to lift the CAATSA sanctions and that he views the sale of F-35s favourably, without having made a decision. There has been no progress on either issue since. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on October 31 that the administration’s foreign policy will not change even if the congressional majority is lost. In Turkey, however, it is assessed that Israel and Greece will step up, through their lobbies in the US, pressure on the new Congress over arms sales to Ankara. This is an assessment reported from the Turkish side.
“Turn back towards the EU”
In the same post Kuneralp turned attention to Brussels and the European Commission’s report on Turkey. “Today the Commission’s report on Turkey is published. It will include the steps needed to normalise relations with the EU, from modernising the Customs Union, Made in Europe and visa problems to the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean,” he noted.
The former ambassador closed with an appeal to Erdoğan’s government: “I hope the government will take the report, read it seriously and turn back towards the EU, to which it has turned its back for years.”
