ANKARA: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (Jul 7) announced that Washington would lift US sanctions on Türkiye that were imposed in 2020 over Ankara's purchase of Russian defence missiles, while expressing a willingness to sell the fellow NATO ally F-35 fighter jets.The move would be a massive gesture from Trump to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan whom he considers a close ally and would remove a major long-standing irritant in bilateral ties.Even as Washington and Ankara have enjoyed warmer ties under Trump, Türkiye's 2019 acquisition of the Russian S-400 system has long been a sore point for both sides.In response to that purchase, Washington in 2020 imposed sanctions on a major Turkish defence company and removed Türkiye from the F-35 stealth fighter jet program, where Ankara was als