ANKARA: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday questioned the U.S.’ alliance with Turkey following the former’s decision to impose sanctions on the latter over the purchase of S-400 missiles. Noting that the bond between the two countries was established largely through NATO membership, Erdoğan asked: “What kind of alliance is this?” “The (U.S. Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) CAATSA sanctions have never been imposed on any country since they were first approved in 2017. Turkey is the first country that has faced CAATSA, and it is the U.S.’ NATO ally,” the president said during the inauguration ceremony of Niğde-Ankara highway which he attended via a videoconference, underlining that it is a blatant attack on Turkey’s sovereignty. “U.S. sanctions aim to prevent Turkey’s developments in the defense sector and make the country dependent once again; this decision is an attack on Turkey’s sovereign rights,” he said. Erdoğan also highlighted that Turkey has reached the point that it can no longer be affected dramatically by any sanctions. “We will work twice as hard to make our defense industry fully independent,” he said. The Turkish Foreign Ministry, in its immediate response, condemned the decision while reminding of the U.S.’ unfair stance throughout the S-400 purchase process.
“The circumstances that led Turkey to purchase the S-400 missiles is known very well to everyone. In this respect, President Trump has also expressed Turkey’s rightfulness multiple times,” the foreign ministry statement said, rejecting the sanctions.
Underlining the baselessness of the U.S. claim that the S-400 missiles are not suitable with NATO systems, the statement added that Turkey has repeatedly offered to form a technical workgroup with NATO to handle the issue objectively and yet no steps have been taken on the matter. –PNP
