“The US Department of Defense condemns in the strongest possible terms Turkey’s October 16 test of the S-400 air defense system,” Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman stated in an announcement on Friday.
“We object to Turkey’s testing of this system, which risks serious consequences for our security relationship,” Hoffman stated. “We have been clear and unwavering in our position: an operational S-400 system is not consistent with Turkey’s commitments as a US and NATO Ally.”
This got here after the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that his nation examined the missile system final week.
The Turkish chief stated his nation had each proper to place to check the gear it has bought from different international locations.
“The United States’ stance absolutely does not concern us. If we are not going to test these capabilities at our disposal, then what are we going to do?” requested Erdogan. “We aren’t going to ask America for permission.”
Final Friday, a video was launched by the Reuters information company, exhibiting a missile being fired into the sky on Turkey’s Black Beach, the place Ankara had been anticipated to check its state-of-the-art S-400 air protection techniques.
The US responded to the report with anger, with State Division spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus saying later that day that the checks, if confirmed, can be thought-about “incompatible with Turkey’s responsibilities as a NATO ally and strategic partner of the United States.”
President Erdogan of Turkey confirms the checks of Russian-made S-400 missile protection techniques, brushing apart the objections from the US on the matter.
Earlier, the US State Division additionally threatened that the activation of the S-400s may probably result in “serious consequences” for the Ankara-Washington “security relationship.”
The US and Turkey have lengthy been at logger heads over Ankara’s buy of the S-400 from Moscow below an settlement inked in 2017. Deliveries of the primary batch of the missile batteries, value $2.5 billion, started round two years.
Washington tried to kill the settlement by suspending Turkey from its superior F-35 jet program and threatening its NATO ally with sanctions, however to no avail.
US warns Turkey of “serious consequences” over missile system check
