Alwaght-Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reiterated that his country will buy Russia's S-400 Triumf air defense systems in defiance of the United States.
"This is over," Erdogan said on Wednesday, noting the signatures had already been made on the deal and that the first delivery will be made in July. "We are an independent Turkey; we are not slaves."
US Army General Curtis Scaparrotti, who heads US European Command, recommended to the US Congress on Tuesday that if Turkey presses ahead with buying the S-400 systems from Russia, delivery to Turkey of Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter should be cancelled.
The Turkish president also mused that his government might later consider buying Russia's top-of-the-line S-500 Prometey (Prometheus) air defence systems at a later date. The S-500 isn't even fully operational with the Russian Armed Forces yet, but is believed it will be equal in capability to the US Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) system once it enters service in 2020.
He went on to say that the US shouldn't try to discipline Turkey through trade measures, noting that Turkey has its own measures prepared.
Claiming the need to protect NATO interoperability and to conceal the technical characteristics of US hardware from the Russians, and specifically with the Lockheed Martin F-35s, Washington has been using coercive diplomacy against Ankara, trying to force it to back down from its S-400 deal. The US insists Turkey should instead spend $3.5 billion on US Patriot missiles, an offer Ankara has repeatedly turned down in the past but is now vaguely considering if the conditions were suitable.
