Turkey Tells US S-400 Buy Does Not Affect Ties With Allies, Wants F-35 Program To Continue

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2019) Turkey's purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system does not change its relationship with NATO allies and the United States and Washington should keep Ankara included in its F-35 program, the Ministry of National Defense announced in a statement after a phone call between Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and US Acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.

"Minister Akar stressed that Turkey's purchase of S-400 does not in any way mean change of its strategic orientation and reiterated that deterioration of bilateral relations would serve the interests of neither Turkey nor the US nor NATO," the ministry said in the statement on Friday.

The ministry added that the partnership between the United States and Turkey in the F-35 fighter aircraft program should continue uninterrupted. Turkey is committed to its proposal of seeking to form a joint working group that could include NATO, in order to assess possible interaction of F-35 aircraft and S-400 systems.

Akar told Esper that Turkey's acquisition of the S-400 was a necessity but Ankara is still assessing a bid to acquire US patriot air defense systems, the ministry said.

The ministry said Akar emphasized that Turkey has a responsibility to take required actions to counter attacks from the Syrian Border. He told Esper that the Turkish Armed Forces is the only military force prepared and appropriate for establishing the safe zone in northern Syria.

"Minister Akar and Acting Secretary Esper agreed during the phone call that the communication lines should be maintained a US military team should urgently be dispatched to Ankara next week to further the discussions on the safe zone in Syria," the ministry said.

Moreover, the ministry said the United States and Turkey have agreed on the need for Washington to deploy a military team next week for discussions on the safe zones in Syria.

Turkey's Defense Ministry said in a statement earlier on Friday that Ankara received the first batch of components for the S-400 air defense systems.

Moscow and Ankara signed a loan agreement for the delivery of S-400 systems in December 2017. Turkey's cooperation with Russia on the matter has been strongly criticized by NATO and the United States, which have cited security concerns over the S-400s incompatibility with NATO's air defense systems.

The United States claims that S-400 systems may compromise the F-35 stealth jet project. Washington said in June it would not accept more Turkish pilots for F-35 training unless it abandoned the agreement with Russia. Turkey refused, saying it was a done deal.

Earlier on Friday, several US lawmakers expressed outrage over the development. The leadership of the US Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees in a joint press release called on President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Turkey for receiving the first shipment of the Russian S-400 missile defense system.

Turkish lawmaker Ozturk Yilmaz told Sputnik that while the United States may retaliate, Washington is unlikely to go as far as breaking ties with Turkey.