The Turkey’s Purchase of S-400 Concerns Only Ankara and Washington, but Not NATO

ANKARA, (BM) – Permanent Representative of Turkey to NATO Basat Ozturk said that the problems related to the Turkey’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 air-defence systems were a matter of the bilateral relations between Turkey and the United States, and not with the North Atlantic Alliance, learned BulgarianMilitary.com.

“S-400 is not a NATO problem, it is a bilateral problem, the US including of NATO to this [issue] and harming the coherency of the alliance would be a mistake,” Ozturk said in an interview with the Anadolu news agency.

Read more: If Turkey Cancels S-400 Deal, We`re Ready to Minimizing Potential Consequences, the US Says

According to him, the United States must act together and in unity, in accordance with NATO’s common values ​​and in accordance with the spirit of the Alliance. Earlier yesterday, Tuesday (25.06), US Permanent Representative to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison said that Turkey could not have the S-400 Russian system simultaneously with the American F-35 fighter aircraft.

“Everything indicates that Russia is going to deliver the S-400 system to Turkey and that will have consequences,” she told reporters. In her opinion, the United States does not want this to happen and does not want the presence of Russian systems in Turkey. Kay Bailey Hutchison thinks that the Alliance will be affected by this decision and their [Turkish] participation in the F-35 program will be affected, too.

Read more: Turkish F-35 Pilots in the U.S. Must Leave the Country by July 31, Pentagon says

The United States is actively opposing Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 systems, threatening Ankara with sanctions, including an exclusion from the F-35 fighter aircraft development program.

The Turkish leadership has repeatedly stated that the issue of the acquisition of the S-400 from Russia is concluded and that Ankara will not abandon these systems, despite the threat of US sanctions. Turkish President Recep Erdogan said earlier that receiving of the S-400 air-defence systems would start in the first half of July.

Read more: The US Has Offered Turkey Several Substitutes for the Russian S-400 Systems and Has Issued a New Ultimatum

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BulgarianMilitary.com
Tranclator editor: Monika Evgenieva
Source: Focus agency