Ongoing US-Turkey dispute over S400.
TEHRAN (Reuters) – A dispute between Ankara and Washington over the purchase of a Russian S-400 air defense system has escalated over the past year, with US officials threatening Turkey and warning Ankara of the consequences.
Deputy Foreign Minister Wendy Sherman stressed on Friday that the purchase of weapons (S400 system) from Russia would have consequences for Turkey and that Ankara should not buy military equipment from Russia.
Senior US government officials have warned Ankara in recent months after Joe Biden took office that President D intends to maintain sanctions against Turkey (under Trump) under the pretext of buying the S-400 system from Russia. .
The White House said in a statement on February 6, 2016 that in a conversation between US National Security Adviser Jack Sullivan and Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin, he reminded him that Ankara had Russian S400s. Overshadows NATO’s influence and cohesion.
A US official said in July that if the United States continued to buy more weapons from Russia, the United States would impose more sanctions on the country.
In 2017, Ankara signed an agreement with Moscow to purchase the S-400 missile defense system, and in 2019 it received several shipments of this system worth $ 2.5 billion.
Reacting to criticism over Russia’s purchase of the S400 system, Turkish Defense Minister Khulusi Akar said that since some NATO member states are already using Russian-made S-300 defense systems, Ankara It will also use the S-400 system.
In December last year, the United States imposed sanctions on Turkey’s “Department of Defense Industries”, which is responsible for providing military technology to the country, as well as its head.
The United States and its allies have said that Turkey’s use of the Russian S-400 system as a NATO member poses a threat to the Western military alliance, but Ankara has denied this and stressed the need for the system to defend Turkey.
Turkey says 20 countries, including Bulgaria, Greece and Slovakia, which are members of NATO, have bought the S-300 defense system from Russia, which the United States has no problem with, but Washington has had trouble with Ankara over the S-400. .
Following the US refusal to sell missile defense systems, Turkey decided to buy Russia’s S400 missile defense systems and took over the system on several occasions, prompting Washington to exclude Ankara from the F-35 fighter project. Delete. The United States claims that using the S400 alongside the F-35 will expose the code and technology of these modern fighters.
