OAN Staff Blake Wolf
3:20 PM – Thursday, September 25, 2025
President Donald Trump hosted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House to discuss trade and military matters.
The Thursday meeting was Erdogan’s first visit to the White House in roughly six years. It began with President Trump suggesting that the United States could lift sanctions on Turkey and allow it to purchase F-35 jets, provided Ankara stops purchasing Russian oil.
“He needs certain things, and we need certain things, and we’re going to come to a conclusion. You’ll know by the end of the day,” Trump stated of Erdogan. “The best thing he could do is not buy oil and gas from Russia.”
During Trump’s first term in office, Turkey was removed from the U.S. F-35 fighter jet program due to the purchase of Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile system, which could have been utilized to gather data on the F-35 and end up in Russia’s possession.
Turkey previously had a distant relationship with the U.S. over its close ties with Russia, and tension between Turkey and Israel, complicating ties with the United States.
Turkey has remained one of the most significant buyers of Russian oil since the European Union announced a boycott in 2023.
Since January, Turkey has purchased over $90 billion in Russian oil, natural gas, and coal, placing it only behind China and India in the same period.
Turkey is also seen as a key strategic ally to the United States due to its ties with both Russia and Ukraine, potentially allowing Trump to further pressure Putin to end the war in Ukraine through a proxy.
Prior to the meeting, Erdogan highlighted that he was looking to “thoroughly discuss” the issue of removing the U.S. prohibition on Turkey purchasing F-35s.
Erdogan also criticized the F-35 ban during a Monday Fox News segment, stating: “I don’t think it is very becoming of a strategic partnership.”
At one point in the Oval Office meeting, President Trump praised Erdogan for “the successful fight in ridding Syria of its past leader,” and for embracing Syria’s new President, Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former Al-Qaeda member, who is now presenting as reformed.
Turkey supported the neighboring rebel group in Syria that went on to seize power during the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad.
Nevertheless, Turkey remains critical of Israel, as Erdogan has argued that the IDF’s conduct in Gaza constitutes “complete genocide,” creating a touch-and-go dynamic with the U.S.
President Trump and Erdogan avoided the topic of Gaza during the public segment of the meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday, and the U.S. has yet to take any formal action to remove sanctions or the F-35 ban.
The meeting between the two world leaders followed a Tuesday meeting President Trump led with eight Arab and Muslim countries to discuss the war in Gaza at the United Nations General Assembly.
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