Turkey rejected Washington’s threat of sanctions and demand to cancel the purchase of Russian-manufactured S-400 air defense systems during recent talks in the USA.
In December 2017, Moscow and Ankara signed a loan agreement for supplying S-400 air defense systems to Turkey.
US officials have repeatedly said that Washington is seeking to discourage Turkey from contacts with the Russian defense sector, which has been turned into a target of US sanctions.
Washington opposed the deal for three main reasons. First, the deal went against NATO’s plans to further isolate and deter Russia.
Secondly, there were concerns that the system’s deployment in Turkey would endanger the flights of NATO aircraft, operating in the Black Sea and the Middle East.
Lastly, it went against US commercial plans to promote the purchase of US-made Patriot air defense systems.
Turkish officials reportedly strongly rejected Washington’s calls, insisting that these systems would be bought and deployed since the bloody war zones around the country needed better protection.
They also warned their US counterparts that any sanctions against Turkey would not be left without a response.
Ankara, however, expressed that if had accepted a nine-month delivery option then Turkey would have had no control over the use of S-400’s.
Now, Erdogan’s officials have chosen the 19-month option so that the Turkish military could prepare our technical works and use them under fully Turkish control.
Sputnik / AA Magnum Defense News 2018.
