ANKARA, (BM) – Ahmet Davutoglu in a live interview with a journalist of the newspaper Yeni Çağ said that Ankara and Washington could agree “behind closed doors” to not put into service the S-400 missile systems, learned BulgarianMilitary.com.
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The Turkish Prime Minister draws such conclusions based on the statements of the American side and the fact that Turkey did not commission the S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems in April, as previously planned.
“Based on by the signals that we are observing from the USA, I get the impression that behind closed doors, Ankara and Washington could agree and Turkey to not put the S-400 into operation” the Turkish television channel indicates.
A number of Russian experts have expressed a similar opinion that Turkey’s difficult economic situation due to the country’s coronavirus pandemic could force Turkey to “sell” its Russian S-400 anti-aircraft defense systems to the United States.
According to them, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intends to abandon the deployment of Russian air defense systems in the country. Such a decision was made under US pressure and apparently Russian complexes could be “sold” to Washington to investigate.
Read more: The pandemic could force Turkey to ‘sell’ S-400 missile systems to the US
Of course, “the sale” should not be viewed literally, but metaphorically. I.e. Turkey cannot and does not have the right to resell these systems since their government has confirmed to the Russian Federation that Turkey is the end user.
But at the same time, it can “freeze” their deployment and combat readiness, giving them access to US experts for exploration, analysis and full evaluation of their technical capabilities, as well as their most importnant part of them – the radar systems.
The same signals came from Israel. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz announced the idea that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intends to accept the US request for Ankara’s refusal to use Russian air defense systems S-400.
“Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in a letter to President Donald Trump he hoped the U.S. Congress would better understand the strategic importance of their relations, given solidarity and supplies shared during the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. Congress has threatened to impose sanctions on Turkey over its purchase of S-400 defence systems from Russia, but the pandemic has delayed the plan to activate the systems as Ankara focuses on battling the disease at home” Haaretz notes.
In reality, there are already similar signals that Turkey may change its attitude on the subject of S-400.
Read more: The access of Russian military to Turkish S-400 system was blocked, Turkey said
Symbolic or not, as we reported on May 9 the Russian military was banned from being at military facilities where the ongoing deployment of S-400 air defense/missile defense systems in Turkey.
According to Turkish Defense Industry Directorate Ismail Demir, the control over the S-400 completely passes to the Turkish military, and the maintenance of these complexes will be entrusted to Turkish companies.