33 minutes agoNATO warns Turkey of consequences if it buys the S-400 missile system from Russia (Photo)
Periskopi(9 years ago)
(9 years ago)The United States of America and its NATO allies continue to voice concerns over the Russia-Turkey deal in providing the S-400 missile system. In an interview with Sputnik, retired Turkish generals commented on the issue and shared their thoughts about how this agreement could affect Turkey's relations - NATO. Speaking [...]
Speaking for “Sputnik Turkey”, Turkish Air Force General and the deputy leader of the Patriotic Party (Vatan) Beyazıt Karatas suggested Ankara's decision to buy the Russian missile defence system was due to the hypocritical “attitude of the United States and NATO.
“Turkey has been a NATO member since the 1950s, and the country still cannot get a long-range air defence system that needs much from the alliance. In the current situation, buying US air defence systems is impossible,” Karatas run.
Meanwhile, General Petr Pavel, chairman of the NATO Military Committee, warned of “consequences for Turkey if Ankara buys weapons produced by Russia. The general said last week, each country is free to make its own defence decisions, Turkey's intention to buy the S-400 missile system will prevent Ankara from integration into NATO's air defence system, and also jeopardise other technical restrictions.
According to Karatas, such “threats” are the only thing NATO can do to Turkey and Russia in the middle of the S-400 missile system agreement.
Commenting further, the analyst explained that close co-operation between Russia and Turkey is considered a threat by NATO countries, primarily from the US, reports “Sputnik International” Transmission Periscope.
Turkey's “Ration with Russia was motivated by the situation in the Middle East. A crisis in bilateral relations after a Turkish plane crashed by a Russian bomber in November 2015 was resolved quickly, where the two countries began actively building co-operation”, he added.
“Co-operation is very important both in military and economic terms,” he noted.
Speaking of NATO pressure on Ankara over the S-400 agreement, Karatas stressed that Turkey is a sovereign country and no foreign country should interfere with the issue.
What is also important, according to Karatas, is that NATO is very concerned about Turkey's possibility of buying more Russian weapons after the surrender of the S-400 missile system.
“Another problem for Washington is the fact that the S-400 agreement would also contribute to the development of military, trade and social ties between Moscow and Ankara,” he said.
Turkey, the US have different interests in the Middle East
Russia-Turkey talks on the distribution of S-400 systems began last year. On 12 September of this year, Moscow and Ankara reached an agreement on granting the S-400 missile system to Turkey./Periscopi/
