Turkey news

Turkey has received the first two F-35 jets from the US, but with a catch: the planes will stay in the US until end of 2019 as Turkish pilots are training to fly them and Senate continues attempts to bar Ankara from getting F-35s.

Both Ankara and the Pentagon are set to complete a deal for F-35s, ignoring a decision by US lawmakers to torpedo the shipment of 100 fighter jets to Turkey. Their opinion doesn’t matter, Ankara has said.

US Senators have voted to block the sale of F-35s to Turkey, slamming their NATO ally for plans to buy Russian S-400 missile batteries. Ankara warned of “an alternative” should the deal be called off.

Turkish and US troops have begun separate patrols along the line dividing the Turkish-controlled areas from the Kurdish-held town of Manbij, northern Syria, after Ankara and Washington agreed a “roadmap” on the Kurds’ withdrawal.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has praised plans for a national polar station in the Antarctic to be built by 2019. It will put Ankara on par with almost 30 other countries having a voice on human activity there.

A group of US congressmen has urged Defense Secretary James Mattis to scrap F-35 sales to Turkey, over national security concerns about the NATO ally’s plan to buy Russian S-400 anti-aircraft system, despite Washington’s pressure.