The NATO 2026 summit will be held on July 7-8 at the Beştepe Presidential Compound in Ankara, Türkiye. It will be the second time Türkiye will host a NATO summit. The first was in Istanbul in 2004.
As we all know, NATO summits bring together allied leaders to make decisions on important issues facing the alliance and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte says they will unveil billions in defense deals.
Another point is that this year’s summit holds additional significance for Türkiye, as U.S. President Donald Trump stated that he will make Türkiye “extremely happy."
According to unconfirmed reports and the current weather trend on "planet Trump," the U.S. government is finally going to deliver the 116 18 F-35A CTOL fighter jets that Türkiye already paid for back in 2019. In other words, if Türkiye bought gold bullions for the $1.25 billion down payment it made then, it would have the whole Lockheed Martin Co. Inc. today.
According to confirmed reports, the Trump administration has also formally notified Congress of its intention to sell 80 jet engines worth more than $700 million to Türkiye, which will make the serial production of the Turkish Kaan warplanes possible.
