A faction in the Turkish military launched an attempted coup in 2016 in a bid to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but failed. Erdogan, who barely escaped capture by the plotters, accused US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen of being the coup's mastermind and slammed Washington for protecting him.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan might have pushed for the purchase of Russian S-400 air defence systems instead of American Patriot missiles due to concerns that the country's air force may pose a significant threat in itself, Reuters reported, citing several anonymous sources in the US government. The officials believe that the participation of part of the Turkish Air Force in the failed 2016 military coup could have influenced the president's decision.
One official suggested that Ankara fears that the US-made defence systems might fail to down NATO jets such as the F-16, operated by Turkey, due to “friendly fire” safeguards embedded in them. At the same time, Russian air defences would not have such a problem, but rather the opposite, another official noted, saying that “the S-400 system was designed to counter NATO aircraft”.
“A Turkish bureaucrat said the primary threat to the government remained from Turkey's own air force, which operated NATO aircraft and had attacked government installations and attempted to assassinate President Erdogan during the July 2016 coup attempt”, one of the anonymous sources…
