Turkey asks its NATO allies to understand that the country's purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system was motivated by an essential need, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th October, 2020) Turkey asks its NATO allies to understand that the country's purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system was motivated by an essential need, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday.
Earlier in the day, the foreign minister held a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Ankara. At a joint press conference, the NATO official offered the Turkish side to negotiate an alternative to the S-400 purchase, saying it could put allied aircraft at risk and lead to Ankara being sanctioned by the United States.
"Regarding the needs of the defense industry, as NATO allies, we need to be providing these internally as allies, however, because we cannot buy Patriots or other air defense systems from our allies, we had to buy S-400s, and we can see the sensitivity that this created within NATO, but this essential need of Turkey needs to be also provided, an NATO and its allies should understand this," Cavusoglu responded.
In 2017, Russia agreed to supply S-400s to Ankara, provoking outrage among Turkey's NATO allies, especially the United States.
