Turkey Rejects US Request to Send S-400 Air Defense System to Ukraine

The US sanctioned Turkey over its purchase of the Russian-made S-400

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey has rejected a US request for Ankara to provide Kyiv with Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems it purchased from Moscow in 2017.

Cavusoglu said the US proposal violated Turkey’s sovereignty and suggested Washington also asked Ankara to hand over the Russian-made system to the US.

“They made proposals that directly affect our sovereignty, for example, give us control over it, give it to another place. Where is our independence and sovereignty?” Cavusoglu said.

The US hit Turkey with sanctions in 2020 over the purchase of the S-400 system, a step that significantly deteriorated US-Turkey relations. The US also kicked Turkish pilots out of its F-35 training program.

Cavusoglu said Turkey doesn’t want to rejoin the F-35 program but wants the money back that it spent on the training. “We are not saying ‘Let’s go back to the F-35 [program] right now.’ We are saying ‘Give us our money back.’ Because we produce our own national combat aircraft,” he said.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.