Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks
After the Turkish authorities decided in recent months to purchase the S-400 advanced anti-aircraft defense system, the US administration announced sanctions against Turkey, claiming that the acquisition was contrary to the NATO treaty and posed a threat to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Turkey acquired the Russian system last year, despite a warning from the U.S. and other countries not to do so, and then the U.S. decided to exclude Turkey from the list of countries planned to purchase the F-35 advanced fighter jets.
In a press release, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the decision to impose sanctions on Turkey following the acquisition of Russia’s advanced defense system, saying the sanctions would be imposed on Turkey’s defense industry chief Ismail Damir and a number of other workers involved in the Russian system.
“The United States has made it clear to Turkey at the highest levels and on many occasions that the acquisition of the S-400 system would jeopardize the security of American technology and troops and provide significant sums of money to Russia’s defense sector, as well as Russian access to Turkey’s military and defense industry.” “The trial of the S-400 system, despite the availability of alternative NATO systems that would meet its defense requirements,” Pompeo said.
” I call on Turkey to resolve the S-400 problem immediately in coordination with the United States. “Turkey is a valued ally and an important regional security partner for the United States, and we seek to continue the decades-long history of security sector cooperation by removing the barrier of Turkey’s S-400 holding as soon as possible,” Pompeo added.
Ankara condemned the imposition of sanctions and called them “unfair” with a demand from the US to reverse it. “We seek to reconsider this unfair decision as announced today. Turkey is ready to address this issue through dialogue and diplomacy in the spirit of the NATO alliance, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.