The S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems purchased from the Russian Federation can be used by Turkey by analogy with the “Cretan model”, said the head of the republic’s defense ministry Hulusi Akar on Tuesday.
The Russian S-300 air defense systems were purchased by Cyprus in the mid-1990s, however, due to the sharp reaction of Turkey, by agreement with Athens, the complexes were placed on the Greek island of Crete, and then transferred to the ownership of Greece.
“This weapon (S-300 air defense missile system) is in the arsenal of the NATO system. And as it is used in the Cretan model, we will make the same proposal on the agenda of negotiations. We can find a solution to the S-400 problem with the United States”, – Akar said to journalists. He is quoted by the Haberturk TV channel.
He added that in the arsenal of many countries that were previously in the Warsaw Pact, and then joined NATO, there are still weapons of the Soviet period.
Deliveries of the latest Russian S-400 air defense systems, which caused a crisis in Turkey’s relations with the United States, began in mid-July 2019. Washington demanded to abandon the deal and purchase American Patriot systems in return, threatening to delay or even cancel the sale of the latest F-35 fighters to Turkey, as well as to impose sanctions in accordance with CAATSA (the law “On Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions”).
Ankara refused to make concessions and continued negotiations on an additional batch of S-400. According to the official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, the US sanctions against Turkey in connection with the purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems once again show Washington’s inability to compete fairly.