Yeniden Refah Party Chairman Fatih Erbakan asked about Türkiye’s status in the F-35 program after the United States approved the sale of 48 F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. Recalling expectations that steps would be taken regarding Türkiye at the NATO Summit, Erbakan said, “Where are our F-35 fighter jets, for which we paid upfront and in whose project we were a partner?”
Erbakan criticized the government’s foreign policy, stating that there was no signature, timeline or legal guarantee in place.
Why it matters
The approval of the F-35 sale to Saudi Arabia has once again brought the uncertainty surrounding Türkiye’s position in the same program to the center of political debate. The stage Türkiye has reached in terms of its partnership in the project and the payment made for the aircraft is among the key questions awaiting answers following this development. The assessment that there is no signature, timeline or legal guarantee also leaves open whether the steps expected to be discussed at the NATO Summit have turned into a concrete outcome. Erbakan’s statement opens the issue to debate not only as a matter of defense procurement, but also in terms of the government’s conduct of foreign policy and the nature of the assurances given to the public. However, the available information does not provide a definitive framework regarding Türkiye’s return to the program or the delivery of the aircraft.
Background
Erbakan is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we published a news report mentioning him in the last 90 days; that article is dated September 16, 2026.