Recent remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio have clarified that Turkey remains effectively locked out of the F-35 Lightning II program, despite recent speculation that relations between Washington and Ankara might be improving. Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rubio stated that current U.S. law prevents Turkey from purchasing or operating the fifth-generation fighter as long as it retains the Russian-made S-400 air defense system.

The different aspects of Turkey’s “authoritarian slide” were the focus of a special hearing held Wednesday before the House of Representatives’ Tom Lantos Human Rights Committee.

The European Commission has lashed out at Turkey, which has excluded Cyprus from preparatory meetings ahead of this year’s UN Climate Change Conference, calling Ankara’s stance “unacceptable”.