Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the purchase of Russian S-400 anti-aircraft systems is not a political issue. This was reported by Askanews.
According to him, Ankara turned to Washington and Paris with a request to sell air defense systems, but was refused.
“We wanted to buy systems from the allies, but they didn’t sell them. So we went to the others,” the diplomat said at the international conference “Mediterranean Dialogues” in Rome.
At the same time, Cavusoglu stressed that in the future Turkey intends to purchase a new batch of missile defense systems. The Foreign Minister admitted that Ankara could again acquire the Russian S-400 if NATO allies again refused.