Erdogan says course of US-Turkey ties ‘does not bode well’

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the current course of U.S.-Turkey relations “does not bode well.” In a briefing to Turkish journalists on Thursday following a visit to the United Nations General Assembly, Erdogan highlighted divisions over Turkey’s purchase of a Russian-made missile defense system and its consequent removal from the U.S.-led F-35 stealth fighter program. “I cannot honestly say that there is a healthy process in Turkish-American relations,” the president was reported as saying in the Turkish media. “Look, we bought the F-35s, paid $1.4 billion, and these F-35s were not delivered to us.”