Tabnak – Growing ties between the NATO member Turkey and Russia has started to trigger string negative reactions from the United States. Following Ankara’s refusal to cancel a deal with Moscow for purchasing the S-400 anti-missile systems, Washington mulls imposing punitive measures on Turkey.
In this vein, acting Pentagon chief Pat Shanahan has warned Turkey over plans to buy a Russian missile defense system, while a US senator has asked whether Ankara is seeking to leave NATO.
Turkey has rejected a US proposal to deliver one Patriot missile defense system by the end of 2019 provided that Ankara abandons a deal to buy the S-400 missile defense system from Russia.
Shanahan warned that the purchase would imperil prospects to sell the NATO ally the next-generation F-35 jet Turkey is helping to build. "My position is that the S-400 and F-35 are incompatible – meaning that they don't go together," Bloomberg quoted him as saying in an interview in his Pentagon office.
However, Turkey says the purchase of the advanced S-400 air defense missile system is a “done deal.” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu made the comment in an interview with the CNN Turk channel on Tuesday, regardless of warnings Ankara have received from the US and NATO officials that the Russian system cannot be integrated into the military bloc’s air and missile system.
“There is no need to make any statements regarding S-400, this is a done deal. Turkey will never backtrack on its earlier promises. What others say does not concern us,” Turkey’s top diplomat said.
Separately, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on 16 February that Ankara was not satisfied with the United States' reluctance to give Turkey a loan needed to buy Patriot air defense systems or organize joint production of the weapon.
Earlier, Ismail Demir, head of the main state body dealing with arms procurement and production told NTV television that "it is not possible for us to accept the content and details of the proposal as it is at the moment. The conditions must be discussed, there are a series of issues that must be clarified and a compromise must be reached".
The news about the Russian-Turkish talks on the purchase of S-400 systems first came in November 2016. The Russian side confirmed that the contract had been signed on September 12, 2017. Concurrently, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Ankara had made an advance payment. Turkey is going to become the first NATO member state to purchase an air defense weapon of this class from Russia.
US Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell stated in June of last year that Turkey’s contract to purchase S-400 missile systems from Russia would severely damage bilateral relations and lead to unilateral US sanctions against Ankara.
