Some senators in the US presented a draft law to Congress to block F-35 delivery to Turkiye over the imprisonment of a US nationals priest Andrew Craig Brunson.

Sens. James Lankford, Jeanne Shaheen, and Thom Tillis introduced the bill to prevent the transfer of the F-35 to Turkiye and to block Ankara’s role as a maintenance depot for the aircraft. 

Senator Lankford claimed that the Turkish government continues to move closer and closer to Russia and that American pastor is innocently kept behind the bars, which that’s the reason to hand over F-35s is risky.

Joint project of nine countries including Turkiye

Turkiye is planning to take a total of 100 F-35, which 2 of them will be delivered this year. Turkish companies said they switched to production parts for combat aircraft.

It is predicted that the F-35s will be attack aircraft for the next 40 years. The new generation of aircraft with not caught by the radar is the joint project of nine countries including Turkiye.

The trial was postponed to 7 May

Andrew Brunson, a US nationally imprisoned priest who was charged with committing crimes on behalf of the PKK and FETO in Izmir, was on tried on April 16. The next hearing was postponed to May 7, 2018. (ILKHA)