ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday Turkey would not withdraw from a deal made with Russia to buy an S-400 missile defence system despite US threats of “devastating” consequences.
Ankara’s desire to buy the S-400 has been a major source of contention between NATO allies Turkey and the United States, which has threatened sanctions after months of warnings.
“We have made an agreement (with Russia). We are determined,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by the official Anadolu news agency.
“There is nothing like backtracking from that,” he told journalists after prayers at an Istanbul mosque.
Last week, a top Pentagon official said the consequences would be “devastating” for Turkey’s joint F-35 fighter programme and its cooperation with NATO if the country went ahead with plans to buy the Russian anti-aircraft weapon system.
Kathryn Wheelbarger, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, said the planned purchase would damage Turkey’s ability to work with the Western alliance, and force Washington to hit the country with sanctions against arms deals with Russia.
She said the US administration, even if it does not want to punish Turkey for the purchase, could be forced to do so by a Congress unsympathetic to Ankara.
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