ANKARA: Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced in an interview published Tuesday that Turkey is prepared not to use the S-400 missile system purchased from Russia as part of a possible deal with the United States to ease tension on the issue.
In an interview with Hurriyet newspaper, Hulusi Akar confirmed, “We are open to negotiating a model similar to that applied to the S-300 missiles located on the island of Crete in Greece.”
In the face of strong protests from Turkey, Cyprus in 1999 changed its deployment of S-300 missiles requested by Russia and placed them on the island of Crete in agreement with Athens.
Greece later became the owner of these missiles, which have since only been used during exercises in 2013.
In response to a question reminiscent of the “non-operational” status of the missiles in Crete, the Turkish minister said regarding the S-400 missiles that Turkey was not obliged to “use them all the time.”
“These systems are used pursuant to threat status. We will decide on that,” he added.
Ankara’s purchase of these Russian missiles has strained relations with Washington in recent years.
The Americans say it is incompatible with the defense systems of NATO, to which Turkey and the United States belong.
In December, Washington banned any weapons export permits for the Turkish government agency tasked with purchasing military equipment to punish Ankara for purchasing S-400s.
Before the sanctions, the United States suspended Turkey’s participation in the program to manufacture the newest US F-35 warplane, saying that the S-400 missiles could reveal its technological secrets.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Friday that Washington’s position on the issue “has not changed” and called on Turkey to “abandon the S-400 systems.”
Some observers believe that Turkey’s freezing of these Russian missiles could meet the US demands.