President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan answered the questions of journalists following the AK Party Group Meeting.
Asked whether he made up his mind about the visit to the U.S. or not, Erdoğan said: "As I said before, we will have a phone call with Trump before the trip and I will make my final decision accordingly.”
In response to a question about the purchase of warplanes from Russia if the U.S. refuses to deliver the F-35, Erdoğan noted the following:
"When we bought the S-400, did we ask anyone for permission? We did not ask anyone, right? So if we make a decision, we will purchase them. We have a right to do this. We talked to them time and again yet they always said it was up to the Congress and referred the issue to Congress. And they did not sell the Patriots since the Congress did not allow them to do so. This was the case during the Obama period. And this has unfortunately been the case during the Trump period. They do not provide us the defense systems we need and when we supply it from another country, they refuse it and want us to ask their permission. This is primarily an interference with the sovereign rights of a country. It is not in Turkey’s nature to ever accept interference in its sovereign rights. If the F-35 problem is not solved we will take the necessary steps at that point, just as we made our decision and purchased the S-400."
On the question of how the judicial process related to the arrest of Rasmiye Awad, the sister of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the murdered leader of terrorist organization DAESH, will continue Erdoğan said: “It will proceed as dictated in our law.” In response to the question of whether her trial will be here, Erdoğan said, “I'm not that much of a lawyer, but right now we have caught them and they will be kept in the dispatch centers right now. I use the future tense.”
When asked whether the work of AK Party and the MHP regarding the regulations on execution discussed in the public opinion has reached a solution Erdoğan replied, “Not yet.”
While answering the question "You have just stated that the terrorists have not withdrawn from and still exist in the areas where the Operation Peace Spring is carried out and in other regions. Will it continue from where it left off in the next phase of the operation?" President Erdoğan stated the following:
"What do you mean? You know right now that patrols are still conducted. But while we carry out our joined patrols with Russia in the framework of our agreement, the United States is unfortunately also conducting a joint patrol with this terrorist organization YPG/PYD on their own accord. However, they were going to withdraw. They decided to withdraw, but how are we to explain these patrols that the United States is conducting with these terrorist organizations in the region now, although they have decided to withdraw? These are not in our agreement. They are taking it upon themselves to do this, it cannot be accepted.”