Is Turkey on the way back to the F-35 deal? Erdogan's new move in the US
Turkey has signed a $2.4 million contract with the lobbying firm Ballard Partners, which is close to President Donald Trump. The goal: to promote its return to the F-35 aircraft program, from which it was expelled following the purchase of Russian S-400 defense systems. Ankara is now considering selling the systems to a third country to remove the obstacle to the deal.
Turkey has signed a one-year contract worth $2.4 million with the American lobbying firm Ballard Partners, which has strong ties to US President Donald Trump. This was reported by the Middle East Eye website. According to the report, the purpose of the engagement is to promote the sale of F-35 aircraft to Ankara.
The leading figure at Ballard Partners is Brian Ballard, a well-known fundraiser for the Republican Party from Florida who worked on Trump's presidential campaign. According to the report, the firm's agreement with the Turkish Ministry of Defense was signed on August 8 and includes a fee of $200,000 per month. As part of the contract, Ballard Partners will provide government relations and strategic consulting services.
This is not the first such engagement between the parties. As early as 2017, Turkey purchased the lobbying firm's services for $1.5 million in a deal that was one of the first ever for Ballard Partners. At that time, the engagement dealt with the case of the Turkish state-owned Halkbank, which the US administration accused of helping Iran bypass sanctions. This year, the US Department of Justice decided to drop those charges.
The Turkish solution to sanctions
Now, an even more strategic issue is on the table. Turkey was expelled from the F-35 program in 2019 following Erdogan's insistence on purchasing S-400 air defense systems from Russia. Consequently, sanctions were imposed against it under the CAATSA law, under which any country that purchases high-quality defense technologies from Russia is considered an adversary of the US and cannot purchase top-tier products like the F-35.
Now, the Turks are examining the possibility of selling the existing S-400 systems to a third country, such as the UAE, in the hope that this will allow Washington to return Turkey to the project — a step that Trump supports, despite concerns about harming regional air superiority. Middle East Eye cited documents submitted to the US Department of Justice, according to which the Ballard Partners team includes former Democratic Congressman from Florida Robert Wexler. The latter is one of the founders of the US-Turkey relations caucus in the US Congress. At the same time, Wexler is known as a person with excellent ties to pro-Israel circles in Washington.
Another well-known figure at the lobbying firm is Thomas Bodrie, who served as an assistant to Trump and as a senior director for legislative affairs at the US National Security Council until April 2025. He ended his role following the dismissal of the then-National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz. Bloomberg reported this year that former Ballard Partners employees include, for example, the current White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles.
