President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed confidence Thursday that Ankara would regain access to the U.S. F-35 fighter jet program, saying he expected "concrete" steps from Washington to that end.

U.S. President Donald Trump "expressed a positive willingness regarding Türkiye's return to the F-35 program," Erdoğan told reporters before boarding the plane to return from the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

"We expect this willingness to now translate into concrete steps," he added.

"We are continuing our discussions on this matter. I am confident we will achieve results."

Türkiye has long sought to resolve the long-running F-35 dispute with Washington, and the Trump administration has also shown willingness to draw a line under the matter.

In 2019, the U.S. removed Türkiye from the F-35 program, where Ankara was also a production partner, following its purchase of the S-400 systems from Russia. It later also imposed sanctions on its NATO ally.

Washington claimed the system would endanger the jets and is incompatible with NATO systems, while Ankara has repeatedly said there is no conflict between the two and has proposed a commission to study the issue.

Türkiye also said it fulfilled its obligations on the F-35s and that its suspension broke the rules.

At the NATO summit in Ankara in early July, Trump said he would lift U.S. sanctions and signaled a willingness to sell F-35 jets to Türkiye.

"We're ​going to be taking the sanctions off," Trump said. "It's time. We don't want to sanction friends."