Turkey's Erdogan says no going back from S-400 deal with Russia: NTV
Turkey will not turn back from its deal to buy S-400 missile
systems from Russia, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on
Saturday, a day after an informal deadline Washington set for Ankara to respond
to a rival offer passed, according to Reuters.
NATO member Turkey has repeatedly said it is committed to
buying the Russian missile defense system, despite warnings from the US-led
alliance that the S-400s cannot be integrated into the NATO air defense system.
US officials had set an informal deadline of Feb. 15 for
Ankara to respond to the rival US offer and have said that if Turkey proceeds
with the S-400 purchase, Washington will withdraw its offer to sell a $3.5
billion Raytheon Co Patriot missile package.
They have also said it would jeopardize Turkey’s purchase of
Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets and possibly result in the United States
imposing sanctions.
However, speaking to reporters on the flight back from the
Russian resort of Sochi, where a three-way summit on Syria between Turkey,
Russia and Iran was held, Erdogan said Ankara would press on with the S-400
purchases.
“We made the S-400 deal with Russia, so it out of the
question for us to turn back. That’s done,” Erdogan said, according to
broadcaster NTV.
He said Turkey was open to purchasing Patriot systems from
the United States as long as the deal served Turkey’s interests, but added
there were issues on delivery and production that were still being discussed
with Washington.
“The US administration views the early delivery issue
positively, but they won’t say anything about joint production or a credit. We
continue our work based on the promise of the S-400 deliveries in July.”
The formal US offer for Turkey’s purchase of Patriot systems
expires at the end of March, US officials have told Reuters, after which a new
offer would have to be submitted.
The United States asked Turkey to give at least an informal
answer on whether it would go ahead with its S-400 purchase by Feb. 15, one US
official said.
It was not immediately clear whether Turkey had responded to
the US offer.
