Erdogan tells Biden Turkey won't change position on S-400s
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly told his US counterpart that Ankara won't soften its stance on the Russian S-400 missile systems despite sanctions imposed by Washington over the purchase.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he informed US President Joe Biden that Ankara won’t change its position on the Russian-made S-400s, he told reporters on Thursday.
"I told [Biden], don't expect us, as Turkey, to take a different step on either the F-35 or S-400 issue because we did our part on the F-35s and gave the necessary money,” Erdogan said while in the Azerbaijani capital Baku.
“We must monitor developments closely. We will be following up on all our rights,” he said. “In the next period, our foreign ministers, defense ministers and defense industry chairs will be moving this process forward by meeting with their counterparts.”
On the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels on Monday, the two presidents held their first face-to-face meetings since Biden took office in January. High on the agenda was Ankara’s multibillion-dollar purchase of the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile defense systems.
