US Ambassador to Ankara Tom Barak sent a message to restart bilateral relations between the US and Turkey. He stressed that substantial progress could be made on the issue of F-35 fighter jets and the sanctions imposed on Turkey under the CAATSA law.

In an interview with the Anatolian News Agency , Barak said that Congress is ready to revisit the issue, noting that “President Trump and President Erdogan, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan , are ready to mandate a solution.”

According to the ambassador, there is now a desire on both sides to break the years-long deadlock.

Ankara was shut out of the F-35 program in 2019 when it purchased Russia's S-400 air defense system , which led to US sanctions. Although Turkey has already invested financially and industrially in the program, Washington requires the removal of the S-400 from the Turkish arsenal as a condition of any restart.

"I trust that President Trump and President Erdogan - along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Foreign Minister Fidan - will empower their teams to find a solution. Congress will support a realistic agreement," the diplomat said, expressing his belief that it is a realistic goal to find a mutually acceptable solution by the end of the year.

Barak added that Washington and Ankara continue to conduct a full review of the bilateral agenda of the past five years.

“The F-35, the F-16, the S-400, sanctions and tariffs are just separate issues in the face of our common goal,” the ambassador said, defining the goal as, “To restore a strategic relationship of trust.” | BGNES