 Turkey wants back the money paid to U.S. for F-35 jets. It would not be right for us to purchase F-16s under the conditions. We should not have hands tied when purchasing these aircraft, said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoglu on a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was on a visit to Ankara. He said the U.S. should return the payment of $1.4 billion to Turkey. As for the F-35 program, we paid for cooperation in this program. However, our country is not involved in this program, and it was not our decision. It was a unilateral decision. Therefore, it is our natural right to expect the return of the $1.4 billion we paid for this program. Çavuşoglu stated, In 2019, the U.S. suspended Turkey's participation in its F-35 program over Ankara's purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system and later completely removed it from the project. Despite harsh backlash from the U.S. and NATO over the purchase, Turkey has insisted that it will continue to use the S-400s. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Edoğan later announced that the U.S. suggested that Ankara procure the fourth generation of the F-16 fighter jets instead of the fifth generation F-35s. Last May, Turkish Defense Minister Halusi Akar said that Ankara is desiring the acquisition of Lockheed F-16 fighters will be approved by Washington for sale to Turkey. Akar pointed to a letter on the issue sent by the U.S. State Department to the U.S. Congress in March, saying it contained promising moments. However, according to the minister, Washington's ultimate position remains unclear. The leaked letter of the U.S. State Department to Congress which opposed the F-16 procurement by Turkey contained the Biden administration's view of the merits of the deal. Notably, the letter called for the endorsement of the purchase since defense trade ties with Turkey contributes to both the U.S. national security interests and compelling long-term NATO alliance unity and capability interests.