Longtime allies Turkey and the United States are set to further cement their relations after US President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seemingly concluded their recent meeting on a positive note.
This includes a monumental energy agreement and a development on the years-long pending sale of US warplanes to Turkey.
Turkey seals huge energy agreement with US
The Strategic Civil Nuclear Co-operation Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was unveiled last week at the Oval Office and was co-signed by Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar and US State Secretary Marco Rubio.
The agreement was intended to bolster their already robust energy ties by collaborating to harness liquefied natural gas-rich areas and pursuing plans for small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) in Turkey to power its regional areas and millions of households in the future.
SMRs are viewed as “low-cost, flexible and safer alternatives” to traditional nuclear power plants, such as the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and France’s numerous power plants.
The MoU, effective between 2026 and 2045, has also emphasized how Turkey will only pursue “civil nuclear activity.”
Aside from the US, Turkey has previously reached out to Russia in helping to build its US$20 billion Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in the Turkish southern province of Mersin.
The power plant is nearing its completion and is expected to be fully operational and commercially available by 2028.
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The case of the long-overdue warplanes
As the two leaders sat at the Oval Office, Trump was hinting that his administration is considering rolling out a resolution that would finally allow the US to sell its F-35 and F-16 warplanes to Turkey, which had been in a tug-of-war situation since Trump’s first term.
Erdogan praised the remarks of the Republican leader, saying that such a move would cement the strategic partnership of Ankara and Washington, albeit with its rollercoaster relations in the past.
Despite calls from his own Cabinet to opt for a better and wiser strategy in buying US-made warplanes, the Turkish president reiterated that he is eager for the sanctions to be lifted during his term.
The US barred Turkey from buying its F-35 and F-16 warplanes after the Eurasian nation procured Russian S-400 missile systems.
Turkey has been keen on buying US-made warplanes to upgrade its aging fleet of planes, a move that is also needed to improve Turkish territories and airspace, especially with the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.
As for Trump, he hailed how the US-Turkish relationship remained strong under the leadership of Erdogan, whom he called a “very tough man.”
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