Trump appeared sympathetic to Erdogan at the talks and reluctant to publicly commit to sanctions — despite being repeatedly asked by reporters. At the Pentagon, spokesman Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Mike Andrews said: “Nothing has changed.”“Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 air and missile defense system is incompatible with the F-35 program. Trump, who has shown a rapport with Erdogan, could still try to change course by seeking to issue a waiver and postpone sanctions. But a Trump decision to withhold or delay sanctions would be less difficult than backtracking on U.S. threats to kick Turkey out of the F-35 program, experts said. To show it is serious, Washington has already started the process of removing Turkey from the F-35 program.

Source: National Post July 03, 2019 04:52 UTC