Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Reuters in an interview in Doha that Turkey and the United States have begun work to end US sanctions that were imposed after Ankara bought a Russian missile system and said he expects a solution “very soon.”
Speaking on the sidelines of the Doha Forum, Fidan told Reuters that Ankara and Washington “will find a way” to lift the measures, known as CAATSA sanctions, during President Donald Trump’s second term in office.
CAATSA, short for Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, is a 2017 US law that allows sanctions on countries that make major arms deals with Russia, Iran or North Korea. Washington used that law in 2020 to penalize Turkey’s defense industry after Ankara bought the Russian S-400 air-defense system, which NATO states say does not fit with Western weapons.
The US government said the S-400 system could expose secrets of the F-35 stealth fighter jet. The F-35 is the main next-generation warplane for the United States and several NATO allies. After the purchase, Washington removed Turkey from the F-35 production and buyer program and placed sanctions on Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industry and several Turkish officials, blocking some exports and finance.
Turkey says the S-400 deal was a sovereign choice after it failed to reach a deal with Washington on the US-made Patriot system. Ankara has long called the CAATSA move unfair and has pushed to join Western arms projects again and to buy new F-16 fighter jets and upgrade kits from the United States.