Erdogan: Turkey bought Russian S-400 missile systems due to threat of attack from Syria
Turkey bought the Russian S-400 anti-air missile systems because of the threat of an attack from Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Italian newspaper La Stampa in an interview. Negotiations were held with several countries on the purchase of such equipment, but only Russia’s offer corresponded to Ankara’s expectations, the Turkish leader explained.
According to Erdogan, the civil war which has been raging in Syria since 2011 has prompted Ankara to “reinforce and modernize Turkey’s defensive potential, especially in the area of anti-air defense”.
According to the Turkish President, negotiations were held with “a number of states” on such a deal, but for Turkey price was not the only important factor, but also the possibility of the technology itself being handed over. “As for the S-400, Russia satisfied our requests both with respect to price and in the matters of supplying and transferring the production and technology,” he explained.
Erdogan commented that it is incorrect to ask how advisable it was for a NATO member state to purchase Russian systems. He pointed out that Turkey is not the only member of the alliance that has Russian anti-air defense systems. For example, Greece has Russian S-300 systems.
The Turkish president also referred to the fact that the Turkish defense corporations Roketsan and Aselsan are holding negotiations in parallel with the Italian-French consortium Eurosam, since Ankara is interested in acquiring long-range anti-air defense and missile systems.
“We attach great significance to the defense industry. We do not want to be a country which restricts itself to buying and importing [military products]” Erdogan concluded.
Turkey announced its agreement to purchase S-400 systems from Russia in summer 2017. According to Rostech CEO Sergey Chemezov, the contract amounted to $2 billion. Turkey will acquire a total of four S-400 divisions.
The deal between Moscow and Ankara caused concern in the US and NATO. US Defense Secretary James Mattis said that it is Turkey’s “sovereign decision” to purchase the Russian systems, but the S-400s will not be compatible with NATO standards.
In January Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said that several countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia had expressed interest in purchasing S-400s. The relevant negotiations are underway, the minister noted.