Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for the lifting of U.S. sanctions that block his country’s defense supplies and other measures taken “unilaterally” that hinder the ability of NATO allies to achieve long-term bilateral trade goals.
During his visit to New York as part of the 79th UN General Assembly session, Recep Tayyip Erdogan participated in the 15th Turkish Investment Conference, organized by the Turkish American Business Council.
President Erdogan told Turkish and American business leaders that cooperation in the defense industry had “fallen far short” of its potential due to remaining U.S. restrictions: “Unfortunately, our cooperation in the defense industry has fallen far short of its potential due to the restrictions of recent years. We hope that we have opened a new page with the F-16 modernization program and expect that the barriers to exports in this sector will be removed once and for all.”
He cited as an example of cooperation with the US and the dynamism of the Turkish defense industry the production in Texas by a Turkish company of 155mm ammunition, which the United States exports to Ukraine. “Your support is important to advance existing programs and create new partnerships that will contribute to our common security. I believe the American business community can play a more effective role in supporting our efforts,” the Turkish president said.
He also called for the abandonment of unilateral practices such as additional tariffs in the iron, steel and aluminum sectors and sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Relations between the countries have taken a hit in recent years due to their disputes over Kurdistan, Syria, the eastern Mediterranean and Gaza. Ankara’s purchase of Russia’s S-400 air defense systems prompted U.S. sanctions and Turkey’s withdrawal from the F-35 fighter jet program in 2019. However, Ankara and Washington have set a long-term goal of growing bilateral trade to $100 billion, up from about $30 billion in 2023.
“Economy and trade are one of the most important parameters of our relations with the US. In the last two years, America has become the second country to which we export the most products and the fifth country from which we import the most products. The volume of our bilateral trade exceeded $30 billion last year. As I have stated many times, we have great potential to steadily increase the indicators of bilateral trade,” President Erdogan said.
He also said he sincerely believes that the joint target of $100 billion in trade volume can be achieved with good planning. Specifically, he said: “To this end, unilateral practices such as additional tariffs, investigations and CAATSA sanctions in the iron and steel and aluminum sectors must now be abandoned. We look to you, the representatives of the business sectors, to take the necessary initiatives to remove the barriers that cause us to lose each other.”
Erdogan also claimed that Turkey has a large, strong and high-potential economy and that it is one of the five countries in the world with a population of 85 million and a per capita income of more than $13,000, along with the US, Japan, Russia and Mexico.
Yesterday, Monday, President Erdogan met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. In addition to the F-16s, Turkey has also been interested in the European Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet, a co-production of Britain, Spain and Germany, but is facing Berlin’s refusal to sell them.
