Ankara: Turkey is ready to purchase US Patriot system after acquiring S-400 systems from Russia
Russia offered Turkey a better deal for the sale of its anti-missile systems than the United States, said Turkish leader Redep Tayyip Erdogan.
“There can be no talk of Turkey withdrawing from its deal with Moscow. We are in agreement, we are determined,” the newspaper Haberturk quoted Erdogan saying.
He added that Turkey would be ready to purchase US Patriots if the United States was able to offer a deal as lucrative as the one offered by the Russian Federation.
According to Reuters, Turkey’s deal to acquire Russian S-400s has long been troubling Washington and its other western NATO allies. They claim that the Russian system is incompatible with the Alliance’s defense system and poses a threat to the US F-35 fighter jets that Turkey is also planning to buy.
On May 22, the US government gave Turkey a choice between the Russian missile defense systems or the American aircraft. The ultimatum will expire soon. However, according to a representative from Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “at the official level, there have been no discussions on the topic.” The ministry added that in March the United States renewed the deal to supply the Patriot missile systems, but the terms of the deal did not suit Ankara.