ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st July, 2020) There are no legal grounds for the resale of Russian S-400 air defense systems purchased by Turkey to Washington, spokesman for Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party Omer Celik said.
In a proposed amendment to the US defense budget, Republican Senator John Thune has suggested buying Russian S-400s from Ankara in a bid to break the deadlock over the weapons, which Washington says are incompatible with NATO security standards and might compromise the operations of the new fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets. Ankara has repeatedly vowed to activate the missile systems, delivered by Russia last summer, despite US sanctions threats.
Celik recalled at a briefing on Tuesday that initially Turkey had intended to purchase US Patriot systems, but "without receiving a response from Washington" Ankara decided to buy Russian S-400 systems.
The Turkish official said Ankara was the "end user" of the system it acquired.
"If a country bought F-16 fighter jets, then it does not resell them to another country, and there are no legal grounds for [reselling] such a system [as S-400] either," Celik said.
