Demands that Turkey drop S-400 deal disrespect its sovereignty - Erdogan’s party

ANKARA, April 4. /TASS/. Spokesman for the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party Omer Celik has blasted the demands that Turkey drop the S-400 deal with Russia as disrespectful to Turkey’s sovereignty, he said during a press conference in Ankara. "The demands that Turkey reject the already finished S-400 deal are disrespectful to Turkey’s sovereignty," he noted. The news about the Russian-Turkish talks on the purchase of S-400 systems first came in November 2016. The Russian side confirmed that the contract had been signed on September 12, 2017. Concurrently, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Ankara had made an advance payment. Turkey is going to become the first NATO member state to purchase an air defense weapon of this class from Russia. US Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell stated in June of last year that Turkey’s contract to purchase S-400 missile systems from Russia would severely damage bilateral relations and lead to unilateral US sanctions against Ankara. Last week, Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan stated that the US government wants Turkey to remain in the F-35 fighter jet program, however, in order to do that, it needs to drop the purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile defense systems. Shanahan added that Washington is trying to convince Ankara to buy US Patriot systems instead of the Russian-made ones. Read more