Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed that US sanctionslinkimposedon Turkey over its purchase of Russian defence systems were an attack onAnkara’s sovereign rights aimed at deterring its defence industry.
Erdogan says that problems stemming from the sanctions would be overcome.
On Monday, Washington imposed the sanctions targeting NATO member Turkey’sDefence Industry Directorate (SSB), its chief Ismail Demir and three otheremployees over its acquisition of Russian S-400 missile defence systems.
In his first public comments on the move, Erdogan vowed to ramp up effortstowards an independent defence industry while criticising Washington forsanctioning a NATO ally.
“What kind of alliance is this? What kind of partnership is this? Thisdecision is an open hostile attack against our country’s sovereign rights,”he said.
“The real goal is to block the advances our country started in the defenceindustry recently and to once again render us absolutely dependent onthem,” the President added.
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“Surely there will be problems, but each problem will push open a door forus for a solution.”
Washington says the S-400s pose a threat to its F-35 fighter jets and toNATO’s broader defence systems. Turkey rejects this and says S-400s willnot be integrated into NATO. On Wednesday, Erdogan repeated that the U.S.concerns had no technical basis.
He added that Ankara still produced close to 1,000 parts for the F-35 jets,despite being removed from the programme over the S-400 purchase. Turkeyhad also been due to buy more than 100 F-35 jets.
