Turkey-US F-35 talks in Washington

Hulusi Akar, chairman of the Turkish Parliament's National Defense Committee, held meetings with senior US lawmakers in Washington from July 14-16, 2026, to discuss bilateral defense cooperation, including the F-35 program, and counterterrorism efforts. Akar met with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Crawford, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, and committee member Pat Harrigan. The discussions followed the July 7-8 NATO summit in Ankara, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Donald Trump discussed the F-35 issue. Trump reportedly took a positive approach on delivering F-35s to Turkey and indicated that US sanctions on Ankara have been largely removed. Turkey was suspended from the F-35 program in 2019 after purchasing Russia's S-400 missile defense system. Akar also outlined Turkey's 'Terror-Free Turkey' initiative and called for stronger US cooperation against terrorism. The meetings reaffirmed the importance of parliamentary dialogue between the two countries.