Joe Biden urges Turkey to abandon missile defense system bought from Russia

The United States is putting Turkey under pressure, at NATO! During an interview during the NATO meeting in Brussels, Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his concerns to his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, his spokesperson Ned Price said. Secretary of State Blinken urged Turkey not to keep the Russian S-400 air defense system, expressed concern over Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating violence against women and domestic violence and underlined the importance of democratic institutions and respect for human rights, ”Ned Price said after the interview.

“It’s no secret that we have differences with Turkey, especially over the S-400 (a Russian anti-missile system) and certain actions taken, including in the Eastern Mediterranean. Neither is it a secret that Turkey has been a long-standing and valued ally, and an ally that we have, I believe, a great interest in keeping anchored in NATO “, said Antony Blinken on Tuesday during a discussion with the secretary NATO General Jens Stoltenberg.

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Washington considers the Russian S-400s to be “incompatible with NATO equipment, they threaten the security of NATO technology and they do not comply with Turkey’s commitments as a NATO member “. The United States in December banned the granting of any arms export permits to the SSB, the Turkish government agency responsible for the procurement of military equipment, to punish Ankara for the acquisition of the S-400s.

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Turkey has also been shut out of the manufacturing program for the state-of-the-art US warplane F-35, believing that the S-400 could unlock its technological secrets. In response, Ankara spoke with Moscow to buy Russian planes, we learned from a European diplomatic source. Mr Blinken agreed with the concerns expressed by many allies in the Union.

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European Union leaders are due to define their position vis-à-vis Turkey at a summit on Thursday. They will opt for a “progressive, conditional and reversible” approach and put Ankara under surveillance until their next summit in June, announced the President of the European Council Charles Michel in his invitation letter for the summit.

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