ANKARA (Dispatches) – U.S. President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Brussels this week but did not were not able to resolve a longstanding dispute that has strained bilateral ties about Turkey’s purchase of the Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile system, an official says.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan offer the first details to reporters from the U.S. side on Thursday after Biden and Erdogan met.
Erdogan has told the U.S. president Ankara will not change its stance on the Russian S-400 missile defense system.
The Turkish leader also confirmed on Thursday that he had made Ankara’s stance clear to Biden remarks during his first meeting with in the NATO summit.
Erdogan also said he had further told Biden on Monday that Turkey, a NATO member state, would not change course on acquiring American F-35 stealth fighter jets.
“I told (Biden) that they should not expect Turkey to take a different step on the F-35 and S-400 issues because we did what we had to for the F-35s and gave the necessary money,” Erdogan told reporters in the Azerbaijani capital Baku.
“We must monitor developments closely. We will be following up on all our rights. In the next period, our foreign ministers, defense ministers, and defense industry chairs will be moving this process forward by meeting with their counterparts,” he added.
Erdogan said it was a “historic mistake” for the U.S. to favor militant groups that Turkey is fighting, instead of siding with its ally that is being targeted by terrorism.
Turkey views the U.S.-backed People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown so-called Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984.
Turkey has had a military presence in northern Syria, despite strong protest from Damascus, for the past two years in a declared attempt to push Kurdish militants affiliated with the YPG away from its borders.
Back in April 2018, Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin said in Ankara that they had agreed to expedite the delivery of the S-400. At the time, it was said that the delivery could be made between late 2019 and early 2020.
A number of NATO member states have criticized Turkey, arguing that the S-400 missile batteries are not compatible with those of the military alliance and that they may threaten the U.S. F-35 fighter jets. Turkey, however, rejects the claims.