Baku, Azerbaijan, June 12
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
Ankara expects Washington to fulfill its allied commitments, Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said commenting on the letter by acting United States Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, Trend reports with reference to Turkish media.
Akar said that Ankara is preparing an appropriate reply to Shanahan’s letter and will respond to it in the coming days.
He also noted that the actions and statements of the US do not correspond with its allied relations with Turkey.
Acting United States Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan warned his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar that if the authorities of the country do not refuse to buy Russian military equipment, the US may impose restrictive measures against Turkey under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.
Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that specialists from the US and NATO could visit Turkey to make sure that Russian S-400 air defense systems do not pose a threat to NATO.
"Although the US urges Turkey to abandon the purchase of Russian S-400 air defense missile systems, it does not guarantee that it will sell us Patriot air defense systems," Cavusoglu said.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo stated that the US believes that Turkey would not be able to have both US F-35 fighter-bombers and Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems at the same time, as this is technically impossible.
Turkey is the first NATO member state to receive anti-aircraft missile system of this class from Russia.
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