ANKARA- Relations between the US and Turkey have seriously deterioratedafter Washington threatened not to sell Ankara F-35 fighters if it buysS-400 missile systems from Moscow, as well as imposing sanctions if thesituation remains unchanged.
Turkey intends to respond to the US in the event Washington decidesto impose sanctions due to the purchase Russian S-400 surface-to-airmissile systems by Ankara, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu statedat a meeting with the editors of the Anadolu agency.
“They say ‘if you buy the S-400, we’ll impose sanctions.’ If you imposesanctions, you will see our answer. If you want such relations, then thisis your choice,” the Foreign Minister said, commenting on the issueof possible sanctions.
The US approach, requiring other countries to join sanctionsagainst Russia, is unacceptable, Cavusoglu stated.
“We see that the United States and the Russian Federation have problems,the US decided on sanctions because of interference in the elections. If Ihave a bad relationship with someone, would I call and tell everyone, ‘Donot be friends with him.’ Is this reasonable? Therefore, we do not acceptthis… We are buying the S-400 — and are you imposing sanctions against usfor this? Relations will not proceed with this type of approach. If thereare sanctions, we will respond,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs WessMitchell warned on June 26 that Turkey’s purchase of S-400 would leadto Washington’s application of sanctions against Ankara and a qualitativechange in bilateral relations.
In addition, as Mitchell stressed, the US can refuse to transfer Turkey’sacquired F-35.