Trump promises F-35s to Turkey despite legal barriers: Trump suggested selling the jets after a warm reception in Ankara, but U.S. law (NDAA 2020) prohibits it while Turkey possesses the Russian S-400 system, requiring certification by the Secretaries of State and Defense. 

Congressional leverage and political reality: A resolution of disapproval would likely be vetoed and hard to override; the real barrier is whether Rubio and Hegseth will certify a false statement, risking the rule of law and congressional authority. 

Broader implications for U.S. policy: The episode highlights transactional foreign policy, sidelining human rights and legal constraints, potentially undermining alliances, rule of law, and American credibility.

Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Donald Trump at the airport in Ankara, which heads of state generally do not do. There were cannons. There were soldiers on horseback. Jets flew overhead trailing red, white, and blue smoke. Then the two men sat down at the presidential palace in Ankara and Trump, asked about the sanctions his own administration imposed on Turkey, said this: “We don’t want to sanction friends.”

The sanctions came down in December 2020, from Trump’s own White House, on Trump’s own watch, after Turkey bought a Russian air defense system built to hunt the exact American stealth fighter Ankara wanted to buy. Nothing about the S-400 has changed since. What changed is that Erdogan sent horses to the airport.

Trump went further. Turkey, he said, has been more loyal than other U.S. allies. He said this on a trip where he singled out Britain, France,........

© Eurasia Review