General Ben Hodges, the former commander of US forces in Europe, suggested that Turkey return to the US F-35 fighter program in exchange for Ankara supplying Russian S-400 missiles to Kyiv.
Hodges told the BBC that Turkey has the second largest ground force in NATO, has a very strong air and sea force, and its army is one of the most experienced armies in NATO and is superior in many areas.
He added that Turkey’s exclusion from the F-35 production program and the sale of these aircraft to Greece, as well as Greece’s purchase of Rafale aircraft from France, will not change the balance of power in the Aegean, since these developments will not make Turkey weaker.
He continued: “There was a reason why Turkey joined the F-35 program. They knew they needed this opportunity, but they made the wrong political and strategic decision and ended up in this unfortunate situation.”
He said: “As far as we know, the S-400 is waiting in its boxes, and Turkey can reverse this step, give it to Ukraine and return to the F-35 program, then it will be in a completely different situation than it is. today.”
He added: “I’m not naive, I know that it will be difficult for Erdogan to make this decision during the election period, but when they made this deal with Russia, they knew it would happen.”
Source: “Turkish zaman”