BY REUTERS
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer has extended for one year a lobbying contract with Turkey over its participation in a U.S. F-35 fighter jet program, according to newly disclosed U.S. Justice Department records.
Arnold & Porter’s USD 1.5m contract for “strategic counsel and legal consultancy services” was disclosed on September 20 and runs until August 2022.
The Washington, D.C.-based law firm publicly submitted its contract under the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires law firms, lobbyists and public relations professionals to reveal certain engagements with foreign clients that go beyond litigation services.
Turkey first hired Arnold & Porter in February for six months to lobby for readmission to the fighter-jet modernization program after the Trump administration suspended the country’s participation. Turkey was removed from the program in 2109 by the U.S. Department of Defense after purchasing a Russian missile defense system.
In March, Turkey’s defense industry chief said the country was not necessarily seeking to rejoin the jet program but rather had set a primary goal of compensation for losses.
