ANKARA (Dispatches) – President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey will proceed with purchasing Russian S-400 missile defense systems, despite U.S. opposition to Ankara’s acquisition of the advanced air defense units.
In an interview with CBS News, taped on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, and published on Saturday, Erdogan confirmed his plans to purchase more S-400 systems from Moscow.
Moscow and Ankara signed an agreement in 2017 to deliver S-400 to Turkey, making it the first NATO member to purchase the air defense missile system from Russia.
The U.S. which has imposed sanctions on Turkey’s defense industry over the missile purchase, had urged Ankara not to go ahead with the delivery of Russian S-400 missiles and jettison the battery it already acquired.
Erdogan however told CBS News that ‘nobody will be able to interfere in terms of what kind of defense systems we acquire, from which country, at what level.”
His government is now engaged in talks with Moscow over the delivery of a second system.
The Turkish leader also said the he had “explained everything to President [Joe] Biden,” that Washington’s refusal to sell Turkey the Patriots system as an alternative had led Ankara to purchase the Russian system instead.
“We made a decision to buy F-35 planes and we paid $1.4 billion,” Erdogan said, adding that Ankara “still has not received the F-35.”
“Who will share the risks regarding out security?” he asked. “How are we supposed to take necessary measures amid the security risks? Should we expect shipments of defense systems from countries that refuse to provide them to us?”
Ankara had formerly purchased America’s F-35 jets, but in retaliation for Turkey’s S-400 purchase, the administration of Donald Trump halted its delivery of the jets.
Washington has maintained that the Russian S-400 system is a danger if activated in the same country that flies F-35 jets.
It claimed that the S-400 would collect detailed information about the F-35s, possibly erasing their stealth advantages.
The two NATO member states have long been at loggerheads over Ankara’s purchase of the missile system , which the U.S. alleges is not compatible with the military hardware owned by the other countries of the Western military alliance.