Turkey to U.S: We bought the S-400 missiles to use them

“We didn’t buy the S-400 weapon systems to put them aside,” said Ismail Demir, the President of the Turkish Defence Industries said in an interview on Turkish TV.

Speaking to CNN Turk, he said that Turkey has bought the Russian S-400 missile defence systems to utilise them, not to put them away, following the recent meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with US President Donald Trump.

In an interview with CNN Türk television, Ismail Demir said it is not reasonable for a country to buy such systems simply to set them aside, but added that the aim of Turkish and US officials should be to resolve the issue. He also said that Russian specialists would not go to Turkey to operate the S-400 systems.

Erdogan and Trump had talks in Washington on Wednesday aimed at overcoming the many differences between their countries on various issues, ranging from the imminent sanctions against Turkey, the supply of S-400s to Turkey and the situation in Syria. Washington, which claims that the S-400s threaten F-35 fighter jets, has suspended Turkey’s participation in the advanced fighter co-production program and has canceled a bilateral agreement to purchase at least 100 such aircraft from Ankara.