Turkey remains committed to NATO alliance - defence minister

Turkey's purchase of Russian air defence missile systems should not trigger US sanctions because Ankara is not an adversary of Washington and remains committed to the NATO alliance, Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Monday.

Akar said Turkey expected to remain not just a buyer of F-35 stealth fighter jets but also a partner in its production, despite US warnings that it would be shut out of the F-35 project if it buys the Russian S-400 defence system.

"We firmly believe that linking the S-400 to the F-35 project is unfortunate," he told a conference in Washington. "We expect the United States and other project partners to honour their commitments."

Akar said that the take-it-or-leave-it deadlines coming from the US would not help dialogue between Ankara and Washington.

"Threats, ultimatums and deadlines do not help and they are not in line with the alliance’s spirit," said Akar.

"We believe this issue can be solved through constructive dialogue," he said of talks with its NATO ally.

Air defence

Following protracted efforts to purchase air defence systems from the US with no success, Ankara decided in 2017 to purchase Russia’s system.

The US says it will not allow F-35s to operate alongside the Russian defence system. 

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that Washington had told Ankara it could face retribution for buying the S-400s under a sanctions law known as CAATSA.

Akar repeated Turkey's offer to hold technical talks with the United States to address "technical concerns" over the S-400 purchase.

Turkey is also assessing a renewed offer from the United States to buy Patriot missile defence systems.

"Recently we received the restated offer for the Patriots. This offer is now on the table, we are studying it carefully," Akar added.