Turkey warns it will retaliate if US imposes sanctions over S-400s

Turkey’s foreign minister said his country would take action against the U.S. in the event of sanctions.

By World Israel News Staff

Turkey will retaliate if the U.S. follows through with its threat to impose sanctions over Ankara’s acquisition of Russia’s S-400 air defense system, its foreign minister said on Monday, according to Reuters.

“If the United States portrays an adversarial attitude towards us, we will take retaliatory measures, as we’ve told them. This is not a threat or a bluff,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told broadcaster TGRT Haber, Reuters reported.

“We are not a country that will bow down to those who show a animosity towards Turkey,” he said, reiterating a threat of retaliation that Turkey made last month.

The first shipment of S-400s arrived in Turkey loaded onto three planes on July 12 at the Murted Air Base near the capital of Ankara. More deliveries were on the way, the Defense Minister said at the time.

Turkey ignored U.S. warnings to pull back from the deal — reportedly costing more than $2 billion. The Trump administration said Turkey would face economic sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act if it went ahead with the purchase.

After Turkey ignored these warnings, the U.S. promptly cancelled Turkey’s participation in its program to produce high-tech F-35 fighter jets.

According to a report by the TASS news agency, Turkey might end up making components of the S-400 instead. TASS reports that Sergei Chemezov, head of Russia’s Rostec state conglomerate, said that Russia and Turkey were discussing the possibility, said the Reuters report.