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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the NATO summit to 'reset' strained relations between the two countries, with the meeting planned for 11:30 p.m. Turkish time (20:30 GMT) Tuesday evening on the sidelines of the alliance gathering.
Erdogan and Trump are expected to meet on Tuesday at 11:30 p.m. Turkish time (20:30 GMT) during the NATO Heads of State and Government Summit taking place in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 24-25.
The two leaders will meet face-to-face at a NATO Leaders Summit for the first time in years.
The meeting comes as NATO leaders gather amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, ongoing Russian attacks on Ukraine, and deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
The two leaders held their first phone conversation on March 16, following Trump's return to office. Erdogan also conducted a phone conversation with Trump on May 5.
During Trump's first term in the White House, he did not visit Türkiye. During that period, President Erdogan visited the White House twice, in 2017 and 2019.
Türkiye will reportedly seek to convince the U.S. to lift the ban on F-35 fighter jet purchases by providing assurances about the controlled use of Russian S-400 missile defense systems, according to people familiar with the matter speaking to Bloomberg.
Relations between the two countries became strained following Türkiye's decision to purchase the Russian S-400 missile defense system, which prompted the U.S. to bar Ankara from the F-35 program.
Türkiye has argued that purchasing F-35 jets would enable its military to operate in sync with other NATO members and strengthen deterrence on the alliance's southeastern flank.
Türkiye wants to buy a total of 40 F-35s and 40 F-16s, according to the reports. Separately, Ankara will also seek permission to obtain and assemble GE Aerospace F110 and F404 engines used in U.S.-made fighter jets and in Türkiye's twin-engine Kaan warplanes and Hurjet training aircraft.
NATO leaders are meeting at a time when the conflict between Israel and Iran has taken on a different dimension with U.S. involvement, Russian attacks on Ukraine continue, and the humanitarian situation in Gaza is deteriorating.
President Erdogan, who is expected to hold numerous bilateral meetings, will represent Türkiye at the two-day summit.
The most important agenda item of the summit is increasing defense spending. U.S. President Trump had made this issue a priority during his first term and is taking an even more insistent approach in his second term.
The goal is to increase allies' defense spending from the current target of 2% of gross domestic product to 5%.
According to the interim formula found, allies will increase direct defense spending, such as equipment purchases, to at least 3.5 percent, while a maximum of 1.5% level will be adopted for general defense spending, such as infrastructure.
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