The official Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of USA Victoria Nuland stated that, if the United States and Turkey can resolve the S-400 issue, “the US would be happy to welcome Turkey back to the F-35 family.”

The American official, who was in Ankara the previous two days for consultations within the framework of the Strategic Mechanism of the two countries, reminded that the CAATSA sanctions (Act for Countering America’s Enemies through Sanctions) were related to the Turkish government’s decision to purchase S-400 air defense systems from Russia and stressed that, “if we can settle the S-400 issue, which we want to do, the US would be happy to accept Turkey back into the F-35 family.”

She also added that “first we need to resolve this other issue and at the same time we need to ensure that Turkey will have a strong air defense.”

Victoria Nuland, in her interview with CNN Turk, admitted that it is no coincidence that she was in Ankara immediately after Turkey’s approval of Sweden’s accession to NATO.

“We are very pleased that Turkey said yes to Sweden joining us. As you know, while we were waiting for this to happen, I won’t say there was stagnation, but this was the most dominant theme in our relationship. So one of the things that Secretary of State Blinken asked me to do was to revitalize the rest of our relationship and get back to talking about what we should do in 2024, including preparing for the NATO Summit in Washington in July. So it was a very hopeful visit to plan everything in terms of the economy, security and human relations, as we all return to full cooperation in this very important relationship,” said Ms. Nuland.

She also said that “while you (Turkey) were working in your own Parliament, we we were trying to explain to our Congress that it is very important for American security that Turkey develop the F-16 fleet, that it is important for the distribution of burdens among the allies that (Turkey) be fully active and participate at this level.”

Concluding Nuland confirmed that the document signed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was taken by courier to Washington, in order to submit the US government’s formal request to Congress for the sale of F-16s to Turkey: “Actually, your president was quite excited when he signed.

The courier got on the plane, delivered it to the State Department, and we forwarded our notification to Congress. In 15 days from Friday, the notification period will end and then we will start the implementation.”