Global News

Turkey threatened reprisals should the United States impose economic sanctions on the country for its purchase of Russian S-400 air defence missiles.

The government will take reciprocal steps should the United States “take negative actions against us”, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu said in an interview broadcast on local television channels on Friday.

“No matter the results, we will not take a step back,” the minister said, referring to plans to take delivery of the Russian systems next month.

Turkey and the United States are embroiled in a political spat over Ankara’s purchase of the sophisticated weapons from Moscow. Washington and its NATO allies say the presence of S-400s in Turkey would threaten the alliance’s security.

The United States has made it clear that Turkey would face a second set of economic sanctions in a year should it not abandon its plans. It also faces permanent exclusion from the F-35 stealth fighter jet programme.

Turkey’s refusal to release a U.S. pastor from detention on terrorism charges last summer prompted President Donald Trump to double steel tariffs on the country and bar some of its ministers from the United States. The lira slumped to a record low against the dollar as a result.

The lira was down 0.7 percent at 5.90 per dollar at 1:10 p.m. local time in Istanbul. It had weakened to as low as 5.92 per dollar after Çavuşoğlu spoke.

Cavusoglu repeated a view expressed by Turkey’s interior minister earlier this week that buying the S-400s was an expression of Turkey’s independence

 “There is no understanding like ‘let’s sit silently and shut up’ in the face of U.S. decisions,” Çavuşoğlu said. “We are and will be determined to be an independent and free country.”

https://ahvalnews.com/us-turkey/turkey-vows-reprisals-if-us-imposes-sanctions-missile-deal