Turkey
concluded a deal with Russia to buy its S-400 missile defense systems, Turkish
and Russia media confirmed on Tuesday.
Citing
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, TASS and Hurriyet report that a deposit in the $2,5 bn
deal has already been paid.
The S-400
system boasts the ability to lock on 80 targets in a 400 km radius.
One of the
biggest challenges to the deal is that the radar system of the S-400
anti-ballistic missile system is not interoperable with NATO radar systems. The
Pentagon has already expressed its dissatisfaction with the arms deal.
Speaking to
the Turkish press, President Erdoğan said that Turkey is “obliged to take safety
and security measures” for its national defense, recalling that several weapons
systems that Ankara sought to purchase were not made available in the west.
President
Vladimir Putin’s military advisor, Vladimir Kozhin confirmed the conclusion of
the deal, TASS reports.
Turkey’s
relations with Washington have deteriorated due to the cooperation between
Washington and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria. Ankara
considers YPG as linked to the Kurdish PKK group.
YPG is
Washington’s main ally in Syria in the war against ISIS and moved to arm the
militia in May 2017, triggering the fury of Ankara.
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/ankara-concludes-deal-moscow-s-400-missile-defense-system/