No NATO Member Raised Issue Of Turkey's Exclusion From NATO Over S-400 - Stoltenberg

Muhammad Irfan Published July 18, 2019 | 05:10 AM

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th July, 2019) Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), said that no member of the alliance had raised the issue of Turkey's exclusion from it due to its purchases of Russian S-400 missile systems.

On Wednesday, the White House said in a statement that Turkey's purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense systems had made it impossible to keep Ankara in the F-35 fighter jet program. The Pentagon subsequently said it was working to unwind its relationship with Turkey in the F-35 program.

"Turkey is an important NATO member and no ally has raised that issue at all because we all see that we are dependent on each other," Stoltenberg said during the Aspen Security Forum in the United States' city of Aspen on Wednesday, when asked if any NATO state had wanted Turkey to be removed from the alliance over its S-400 purchases that could allegedly open a way for espionage activities against them.