MOSCOW – Commenting on President Putin recently touting advanced Russianweapons and lawmaker Alexander Sherin signaling Moscow’s readiness to standup for its partners, including Ankara, Turkish military expert BeyazitKaratas told Sputnik that these statements indicate that Ankara does notneed NATO’s deterrence systems.

Retired Turkish Air Force major-general Beyazit Karatas said that thelatest statements by senior Russian officials show that Ankara should notrely on NATO when it comes to maintaining its national security.

“Moscow underscores that Turkey can calmly withdraw from NATOlink>,and after doing so Ankara will have guarantees that it will not face anythreat in terms of ensuring its own security,” Karatas pointed out.

Karatas recalled what he had already said about the likelihood of asituation in which the US could add to Turkey becoming a nuclear target.

“By saying so, I meant that if any NATO countrlink>y,mainly America, stages a nuclear attack on a third country from Turkishterritory, it may turn Turkey into a nuclear target. However, Russia’srecent statements, on the one hand, offered Turkey a protection systemwhich is alternative to NATO’s nuclear deterrence, and, on the other – thestatements sent a certain message to NATO and the US via Turkey,” he added.

Karatas emphasized that “the US is not a superpower in terms of itsresources in the field of conventional weapons, and they themselves realizethis.”

“The US is a country which is forced to create coalitions in order to carryout military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, or elsewhere in theworld. We are talking about America, which created an alliance with 70different forces. This is part of the main evidence that the US is nolonger a world superpower,” he noted.

He recalled that Putin’s statements on sophisticated Russian weapons cameafter US President Donald Trump’s statements about Washington’s intentto develop US tactical nuclear weapons.

“It can be seen as an attempt to compensate for [the US’s] weaknessin conventional armament by building up nuclear capabilities. In thisconnection, Putin’s statements can be regarded as a response to the USrhetoric, which is full of threats,” Karatas said.

*’Message to Turkey’*

He was echoed by Turkish political analyst Ozdemir Akbal, who said that”the words by Russian President reflect his desire to form a new union.”

According to Akbal, one of the goals was “to send a certain messageto Turkey, which is going through problems in relations with its alliesover the Syrian issue.”

“By making statements on the development of the newest Russian nuclearweapons, Putin, on the one hand, stressed the status of Russia as a globalplayer, achieved after the beginning of the operation in Syria in 2015, andon the other – he expressed an intention to create new allied relations,”Akbal noted.

He recalled that despite a spate of problems in relations, Turkey remains aNATO memberlink>,which prevents Ankara from joining other alliances.

“If [this] system’s structure is not hit by a crisis that wouldfundamentally change the existing balance of power (like the Second WorldWar did in its time), it will be very difficult for Turkey to take actionaimed at changing the existing allied structure,” Akbal concluded.

Earlier this week, Alexander Sherin, first deputy head of the Russian LowerHouse’s Defense Committee, said that CSTO [Collective Security TreatyOrganization] countries, Syrialink>,Iran, North Korea, Chinalink>andTurkey, remain Russia’s partners, and that Moscow will be ready to “standup” for them in case of a possible nuclear attack.

The statement was followed by President Vladimir Putin’s state-of-the-nationaddresslink>to thecountry’s Federal Assembly, in which he specifically touted the mostadvanced Russian weapons, including the Sarmat ballistic missile, theKinzhal high-precision hypersonic aircraft missile system and the Avangardstrategic hypersonic missile system. – Sputnik