OREANDA-NEWS. According to NTV Channel, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that the United States should either complete the delivery of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey or return to Ankara the money previously paid under the contract.

“The United States has made us partners and purchased from us many components [For manufacturing aircrafts. – Ed.]. They gave us five [Airplanes. – Ed.],” the politician said, adding that after that the problems had appeared. According to Erdogan, if the United States does not return the money or does not deliver aircrafts to Ankara, Turkey will find other suppliers of fighter jets or build them itself.

Earlier, the United States excluded Turkey from the joint program for creating the F-35, and American Senate approved a ban on the sale of fighter aircraft to Turkey. The reason for the disagreement between the two countries was Ankara’s deal with Moscow on the purchase of Russian anti-aircraft missile systems S-400.