President of Turkey says he told Trump that Turkey will not stop procurement of S-400 Russian missiles
The President of Republic of Turkey – Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced on Tuesday, i.e., November 19, 2019 that Turkey will not go back on the procurement of S-400 missile defence system from Russia, despite opposition from United States (U.S.).
Erdogan informed the Parliament in Turkey that during his meeting with the President of U.S. – Donald Trump at white House in U.S., last week, he had clearly mentioned it to Trump that Russian S-400 must be a part of Turkish Military.
Addressing the Parliament, Erdogan said, “We agreed to seek solutions to the S-400 issue. I explained to Trump once again how we came to the point of buying S-400s.”
He further added, “I told him that we could not give up on the S-400s and that Turkey will not turn back.”
As a matter of fact, Turkey has already received the first installment of Russian S-400 missile defence system from Russia for U.S. $ 2.5 billion, at its airbase in the capital city of Ankara. The move has not gone down well with the United States (U.S.) and the latter has warned Turkey that they cannot have both U.S. F-35 Fighter Jets and Russia’s S-400 Missiles.
For the records, both U.S. and Turkey are North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members. Turkey had also signed an agreement with U.S., under Fighter Jet Programme, for buying 100 U.S. F-35 warplanes. When Turkey received first instalments of S-400 missiles, U.S. immediately expelled Turkey form the Fighter Jet Programme.
The U.S. firmly believes that S-400 is incompatible with the wider NATO air defence as the presence of S-400 missiles near U.S. F-35 fighter jets will make the Russians aware of the vulnerabilities of U.S.’s F-35 fighter jets. Reacting to U.S.’s concern, Turkey has confirmed that Russian and U.S. defence systems will be located at different locations.
Erdogan has also warned that Turkey will look for alternatives of F-35 fighter jets from another country.
Besides, the U.S. has warned Turkey of economic sanctions under Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, if it still goes ahead with honouring of the Russian deal.
Separately, relations between Turkey and U.S. hit a low after Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army, officially known as Syrian National Army, launched air strikes and artillery fire in east of Euphrates River in Syria on October 9, 2019.
The Turkish Armed Forces, the military forces of the Republic of Turkey targeted the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighters, a dominant force in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) whom they consider as terrorists and an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). However, the YPG denies any direct organisational links to the PKK.
The attack came after U.S. stared withdrawing its troops from Syria, following a White House announcement on October 6, 2019 that Turkey will soon invade the Northern Syria to attack the Kurdish forces.
that Kurdish YPG fighters have until now received strong support from the U.S. for helping U.S. in the latter’s campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS).
The war came to a halt when Vice President of United States (U.S.) – Mike Pence held an 8-hour meeting with Erdogan in Turkey, on instructions of the President of U.S. – Donald Trump, to work out a deal with Turkey. As per the deal, Turkey would pause its attacks for 5 days during which the Kurdish YPG fighters were required to pull back their forces by 30 kms. from the Turkey-Syria border. Once the withdrawal got over, the attacks were completely halted.
