The Turkish television network NTV has fired its Washington correspondent Hüseyin Günay, after his off-the-record remarks about the outcome of the Trump–Erdogan meeting at the White House went viral online.

Günay had covered the White House for many years for the channel. The story took on new dimensions when an Associated Press camera accidentally recorded a private conversation between two Turkish NTV correspondents outside the White House.

In the conversation, Günay speaks with a colleague from Anadolu Agency, saying that Hakan Fidan “deliberately brought up the issue of the engines” because of competition over the succession of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The leaked video, which was published by a pro-government outlet, caused shock in Ankara. In the same conversation, apparently unaware he was being recorded, Günay was asked how the talks went, and he replied with the line that went viral:

“We got screwed. We got nothing. Okay, we got something, but basically, we got screwed.”

Hüseyin Günay videosunun 5 dakikalık uzun hali. o kadar haklı ki sözlerinde herkesin bildiğini o cenahtan birisinin ağzından duymak o kadar iyi ki. Özgür özelin bu mevzuyu dibine kadar kullanması lazım. pic.twitter.com/FbQLouAZfw

— emir (@gimaposeti) September 30, 2025

When asked about the F-35s, he said: “It’s over. They talked. They talked about CAATSA, they talked about the F-35s, but they set conditions. First, if the Palestinians are expelled from their lands, Turkey has to take them. Second, stop buying natural gas from Russia. Third, stop trading with China and transfer money to Palestine. We can’t do any of that…”

Hüseyin Günay ne yaptın, koltuk gitti . pic.twitter.com/JR57k2UcO8

— Ayhan Dadaloğlu (@AyhanDadaloglu) September 30, 2025

Günay then referred to Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s statement that the engines required for the domestically produced KAAN fighter jet would be imported from the U.S. pending Congressional approval, saying: “They’re betting on Fidan… He accidentally leaked the information about the aircraft engines, but nobody knew… There’s an internal power struggle between Bilal (Erdoğan’s son), Hakan Fidan, and the son-in-law (Selçuk Bayraktar).”

The full conversation

Journalist: How did the talks go?
Hüseyin Günay (NTV correspondent in Washington): Good… but we got nothing. We got screwed. We got nothing.
Journalist: No, they’re saying we got something.
Hüseyin Günay: Yeah, we got something, but we got screwed. They talked about CAATSA, the F-35s, but they set conditions. Like: if the Palestinians are expelled, Turkey has to take them. Also, he told him to stop buying gas from Russia, stop trading with China, and transfer money to Palestine. We can’t do any of that.
Journalist: With all that, Erdoğan will die (politically)!
Hüseyin Günay: Well, right now, they’re talking about the post-Erdoğan era.
Journalist: Is your camera on?
Hüseyin Günay: No… it only turns on if I press here… In Ankara they’re already putting pressure on Hakan Fidan. And with that statement of his, he accidentally leaked the information about the aircraft engines… nobody knew. The man suddenly dropped a bomb. He did it deliberately. He’s playing against Albayrak. Meaning, he’s playing against the son-in-law. There’s a big fight inside between Fidan, the son-in-law, and Bilal. These three groups are at each other’s throats.

Before his dismissal, Hüseyin Günay posted on X:

“My unfortunate place in today’s news is a different story, but there was some good news I was eager to share with you all. It just happened to coincide with today, completely by chance. I want to share my happiness with you — I became a father. From now on, you can call me Hüso Baba.”

CAATSA: The U.S. law that sanctioned Turkey

The CAATSA law (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act), passed by the U.S. Congress in 2017, was designed to limit third countries’ strategic ties with Russia, Iran, and North Korea. For Turkey, it marked a turning point in relations with Washington after Ankara purchased the Russian S-400 air defense system.

This led the U.S. to impose sanctions in 2020 on Turkey’s Defense Industry Directorate (SSB) and its officials, while also excluding the country from the F-35 fighter jet program.

Washington viewed the application of CAATSA to Turkey as a critical deterrence message to allies cooperating militarily with Moscow. For Ankara, however, it became a lasting source of tension with the U.S., continuing to affect bilateral relations today.

Reactions in the Turkish press

Milliyet editor-in-chief Özay Şendir tried to downplay the incident, saying that “using foreign engines in the first prototypes of fighter jets is standard international practice.” However, the leaked off-camera conversation with its succession hints fueled speculation about rifts at the top of Turkey’s power structure.

Pro-government Milliyet commented that “it would have been better if Fidan had never brought up the issue.” Meanwhile, Haluk Görgün, head of the Defense Industry Directorate, rushed to assure that “the future of the KAAN does not depend on a single country’s engines.”

Conversely, Barış Terkoğlu of Cumhuriyet argued that Fidan’s statement “was true but considered a gaffe,” and that the resulting storm reflected internal power struggles.

Commentator Cem Küçük of TGRT claimed that Erdoğan himself had been “misinformed” about the program, believing that the first 45 aircraft would already have “domestically produced engines.” According to him, Ankara has struck a deal for 90 American F110 engines, the same model used in F-16s.