Turkey warns US

The clash between two of NATO's major allies, the US and Turkey appears to be deepening. Ankara warns it will retaliate if Washington bans the sale of American weapons to it following the Turkish state's decision to buy Russian military equipment.

Such an action would be “wrong” and “inconspicuous”.

“If the United States imposes sanctions on us or take such a step, Turkey will be absolutely avenged“, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told CNN Turk. “What needs to be done is that the United States must give up this.”

“Turkey is not a country under your orders, it is an independent country... speaking of such a country from above, detecting what it can and cannot buy, is not a fair approach and does not comply with our alliance“, he said, referring to the fact that the two countries are part of NATO.

The notion of a cease-from selling weapons has been presented by lawmakers in the US House of Representatives through the proposed US National Defence Authorisation Act.

The latter would request the defence department to give Congress a report on relations between the US and Turkey and would block the sale of key defence equipment until the report was completed.

The move could put a key to works for Turkey, as it plans to buy more than 100 <x0 aircraft Lockheed Martin” F-35.

Cavusoglu said he plans to travel to Washington next week to meet with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who earlier said he was concerned about Ankara's decision to buy Russia's S-400 missile defenders.