Turkey unafraid of US sanctions over S-400 deal

ANKARA: Turkey said on Monday it does not fear US sanctions over its decision to buy a Russian missile defence system that has frayed ties between the Nato allies.

The United States has given Turkey a deadline of July 31 to drop the purchase of the S-400 system, or face sanctions and removal from its F-35 fighter jet programme. “Regardless of whatever sanctions there may be, whatever the messages from America, we’ve bought the S-400,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara.

He said Turkey was working on the date for the system’s delivery, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said would be in the first half of July. “If there’s an attack on Turkey tomorrow, we cannot expect Nato to protect us because Nato’s capacity would only protect 30 percent of Turkey’s airspace,” Cavusoglu said. Turkey will no longer allow other countries to dictate its defence purchases, he said.