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Defiant Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan refuse to surrender before US threats

Defiant Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan refuse to surrender before US threats

ANAKARA – A senior aide to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says thecountry is determined to go on with the purchase of Russian S-400 missiledefense systems, despite threats of sanctions by the United States.

Ibrahim Kalin made the remarks on Friday, two days after Erdogan and USPresident Donald Trump met in Washington and discussed differences betweenthe two countries, including over Turkey’s purchase of the S-400s.

Ankara and Washington have been at loggerheads over Turkey’s purchase ofthe Russian systems, which the US says are not compatible with the militaryhardware owned by the other countries of the Western military alliance ofNATO and pose a threat to Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter jets.

In reaction, Washington has canceled the sales of F-35s to Ankara andremoved it from a multinational program producing the aircraft.

Kalin told broadcaster TRT Haber that Turkish and American officials hadstarted work as part of a mechanism to assess the impact of the S-400s onthe F-35 jets on Friday.

Erdogan rejected a demand made by the US to abandon the S-400 contractduring his meeting with Trump, calling that request unacceptable and aninfringement of Turkey’s sovereign rights.