Turkey’s presidential communications office on Wednesday rejected claims that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was not informed about US involvement in the engine program for the country’s new KAAN fifth-generation fighter jets, calling the reports “a clear act of disinformation.”
The Presidency’s Directorate of Communications, through its Center for Combating Disinformation, said on X that Erdoğan, as chair of the Defense Industry Executive Committee, personally oversees strategic defense projects.
“The claims that our president was not informed or was misinformed are a clear act of disinformation targeting the Presidency,” the statement read, urging the public to rely only on official sources.
Bazı basın organlarında ve sosyal medyada, “Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan’a KAAN uçaklarının motorları hakkında bilgi verilmediği veya yanlış bilgi verildiği” yönünde dolaşıma sokulan iddialar dezenformasyon ürünüdür.
Cumhurbaşkanımız Sayın Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Savunma Sanayii İcra… pic.twitter.com/u27sCaqiMv
— Dezenformasyonla Mücadele Merkezi (@dmmiletisim) October 1, 2025
The response came after pro-government journalist Cem Küçük said during a TV program that Erdoğan, who had a meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House last week, was unaware of an agreement with the United States concerning the jet’s engines.
His comments followed remarks by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who acknowledged in New York last week that the KAAN cannot currently obtain its engines from the United States because the sales license is being held up in the US Congress due to sanctions imposed on Turkey in 2019.
Fidan criticized the delay as inconsistent with “the spirit of alliance and strategic partnership” while revealing that the project, promoted as Turkey’s first “national and indigenous” combat aircraft, still relies on US technology.
The US imposed sanctions on Turkey under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act after Ankara acquired the Russian-made S-400 air defense system, a move Washington said compromised NATO security.
According to the state-run Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), which develop the jets, KAAN prototypes and test flights have used the American-made F110 engine, produced by General Electric Aerospace, which is also used in F-16 and F-15 fighter jets. While some components are manufactured in Turkey, export of the engines requires congressional approval in Washington.
The dispute has fueled skepticism in Turkey about whether the KAAN can enter serial production or be exported to other countries such as Indonesia, as Turkish officials have suggested. Critics have also questioned the government’s branding of the project as fully “national” given its continued dependence on foreign parts.
Despite the controversy, Turkish officials insist that Ankara is developing a domestic engine for the KAAN under Erdoğan’s leadership.
Haluk Görgün, the head of Turkey’s Presidency of the Defense Industry (SSB), responded this week that there is “no delay” in KAAN’s delivery schedule. He said the project is “in no way dependent on the engine of a single country” and confirmed that all prototype engines have already been delivered, with test production continuing “at full speed.”
Turkey’s KAAN fighter jet project, initiated in 2016, aims to produce a next-generation aircraft by the late 2020s.
The $1.18 billion project includes collaboration with BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce for engine development, according to the SSB.