ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th April, 2019) Ankara will continue to participate in the production of fifth generation F-35 fighter jets, Ibrahim Kalin, the Turkish president's press secretary, said on Thursday.
"Turkey is not only a buyer of F-35 fighter jets, but we continue to be and will remain partners in their production program," Kalin said.
On Wednesday, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar expressed satisfaction over his negotiations with his US counterpart Patrick Shanahan earlier in the day and said that Turkey had fulfilled its commitments within the F-35 project.
Turkey is one of the participants in the US F-35 international program. Washington has repeatedly threatened Ankara with sanctions for possible acquisition of Russian S-400 air defense systems and has not ruled out delaying or canceling the process of selling the F-35 aircraft to Turkey. Ankara, in its turn, has said that the purchase of military equipment is its sovereign affair and ruled out the possibility of abandoning its plans.
