The White House said Wednesday that Turkey's purchase of the Russian S-400 air defence systems had made it impossible to keep Ankara in the F-35 fighter jet program. The Pentagon subsequently said it was working to unwind its relationship with Turkey in the F-35 program.
Russia and Turkey, the United States' NATO ally signed a deal on the purchase of the S-400 systems in late 2017. The deliveries started earlier in July. the United States and NATO have repeatedly voiced concerns about the deal. In particular, Washington has argued that the Russian systems would compromise the compatibility with NATO's air and missile defence systems. Still, Turkey maintains that it would not abandon the deal.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that none of the bloc's members have raised an issue of Ankara's exclusion from the alliance over the S-400 systems, adding that Russian systems would not be integrated into NATO's air defence systems.
“Turkey is an important NATO member and no ally has raised that issue at all because we all see that we are dependent on each other”, Stoltenberg said during the Aspen Security Forum in the United States' city of Aspen on Wednesday, when asked if any NATO state had wanted Turkey to be removed from the alliance over its S-400 purchases that could allegedly open a way for espionage activities against them.
“It is up to each and every nation to decide what kind of [defense] systems they acquire. But what matters for NATO is…
