Global News

Following the meeting between the US and Turkish presidents, Donald Trump announced that bilateral national security teams would start working on a solution to one of the main issues that has been spoiling the two countries’ relations in recent years – Ankara’s purchase of S-400 systems from Russia.

Spokesman for the Turkish president, Ibrahim Kalin, said that Turkish and American officials have started working on resolving the S-400 issue, which has been spoiling US-Turkish relations since December 2017, TRT Haber reported. Specifically, they will be evaluating the impact that the Russian air defence systems could have on the US-made F-35 jets, the aide added.

Kalin further said that the option of Turkey discarding the already acquired S-400s is “out of question”, but noted that the Russian system will not be integrated into the NATO defence grid – something that numerous experts have warned against or deemed practically impossible to do.