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Ankara urges US to supply F-35 jets, Patriot systems ‘without preconditions’

25 March 2022 [23:17] - TODAY.AZ

By Trend

The U.S. should readmit Ankara to a joint F-35 fighter jet program and deliver Patriot missile defense systems to the country “without conditions,” Turkish Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun has said, Trend reports citing Hurriyet Daily News.

Altun penned an op-ed in the U.S. daily Wall Street Journal in response to another opinion piece that suggested that “Turkey should send Ukraine the Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems.”

In his op-ed, headlined, “Turkey Says No Deal on S-400 for Ukraine,” Alt?n said that while such a deal was “quite unrealistic today, this idea presents an opportunity to discuss the problems Turkey has experienced lately with the West.”

“Turkey, which views European Union membership as a strategic objective and takes pride in its NATO membership, expects to be treated by the West as it deserves. It would take confidence-building measures, not so-called informal proposals, to repair the relationship.”

Turkey paid $1.4 billion for the fighter jets, but Washington took Ankara out of the program in 2019 because Turkey bought the Russian S-400 defense system after its efforts to acquire U.S. Patriot missiles were rebuffed.

The U.S. claimed the Russian system was a safety risk, but Turkey maintained that the S-400 would pose no threat to NATO or its armaments because it would not be integrated into the alliance’s systems.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/217642.html

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