President Donald Trump announced on Friday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be welcomed at the White House on September 25.
Sharing the news on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “We are working on many Trade and Military Deals with the President, including the large scale purchase of Boeing aircraft, a major F-16 Deal, and a continuation of the F-35 talks, which we expect to conclude positively.”
He continued, “President Erdogan and I have always had a very good relationship. I look forward to seeing him on the 25th!”
Bloomberg reported earlier in the day that Turkey is preparing to sign new energy agreements with the United States as soon as next week, aiming to deepen its partnership with Washington.
According to sources cited by Bloomberg, the arrangements may include commitments to increase purchases of U.S. liquefied natural gas.
The same sources also indicated that Erdogan is pursuing an additional meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Bloomberg emphasized that Turkey’s renewed diplomatic and trade activity comes as part of an effort to mend ties with Washington after years of friction over Russian arms purchases and diverging policies regarding Syria’s war.
The alliance between Washington and Ankara was badly strained during Trump’s earlier years in office following Turkey’s acquisition of the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system, which the U.S. argued could be used to gather intelligence on NATO defenses.
In retaliation, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Turkey’s military procurement body and removed the country from the F-35 fighter jet program, which provided allied nations access to production roles and early orders of the aircraft.
Despite repeated warnings from Washington, Turkey insisted that it would deploy the Russian missile system regardless of the sanctions threat.
