Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his hope that friendship with the United States of America would prevail despite the bad start he described with the administration of President Joe Biden.
Erdogan said in a press statement in New York, where he is participating in the meetings of the General Assembly of the United Nations: "What we hope is that friendship prevail in our relations with the United States instead of antagonism, as we are allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)."
He added, "I've worked well with (previous presidents) George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, but I can't say that the beginning of our work with Joe Biden was good."
He explained that Biden had begun transferring weapons, ammunition and equipment to terrorist organizations (in Syria), and that Turkey would not stand idly by while watching this.
And Abizaid: When you look at the weapons that are currently in the hands of the Taliban, you find that they are weapons of the United States, and therefore they will have to pay the price for that.
Erdogan explained the main reason behind this tension, saying, "We bought F-35s and paid 1.4 billion dollars, and we did not receive those planes. The United States should solve this first."
He added that Ankara will meet its defense needs from other places, if Washington does not help it in this regard.
Relations between the two NATO members were severely strained this year, when Washington imposed sanctions on the Turkish defense industry over the S-400 systems.
Ankara was also expelled from the F-35 fighter jet program, as it was among its buyers and manufacturers.