US wants Türkiye to send S-400s purchased from Russia to Ukraine, Ankara says no

"The US asked us to send S-400s to Ukraine, and we refused," Foreign Minister Cavusoglu said, explaining that these proposals were unacceptable because they violated Turkey's sovereignty , according to Anadolu Agency.

Turkish officials have repeatedly said that Ankara's purchase of the S-400 from Russia is a matter of national security and that no other country has the right to interfere in it.

Earlier, in 2017, when prolonged efforts to purchase air defense systems from the US failed, Türkiye signed a contract with Russia to purchase the S-400 system.

Türkiye signed a $2.5 billion S-400 deal with Russia in 2018

US officials have expressed opposition to Türkiye's deployment of the S-400, arguing that the system would be incompatible with NATO systems.

However, Türkiye has stressed that the S-400s will not be integrated into NATO systems and pose no threat to the alliance or its weapons. Ankara has repeatedly proposed the establishment of a committee to clarify the issue.

In July 2019, the US Department of Defense announced that it was removing Turkey from the F-35 stealth fighter development program after Ankara began receiving the S-400 from Russia.

When asked about returning to the F-35 program, Foreign Minister Cavusoglu replied that Ankara does not want to return to the program but wants to receive back from Washington the money it paid for the F-35s before being removed from the program, while Türkiye has not been delivered any.

Mr. Cavusoglu explained that Ankara is currently "producing its own national fighter jet," adding that Türkiye also wants to improve relations with the United States and the necessary mechanisms have been established for this purpose.

However, Türkiye also wants to buy F-16 fighter jets and modernization kits from the US, but this request was not resolved by Washington as quickly as Ankara wanted, according to Mr. Cavusoglu.

Ankara requested F-16 aircraft and modernization kits from the US in October 2021. The $6 billion deal will include 40 F-16s and modernization kits for the 79 fighter jets the Turkish Air Force currently has in its inventory, according to Reuters.

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