The US had proposed that Turkey send to Ukraine the S-400 air defense system it bought from Russia, but Ankara refused, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Sunday.
Turkey has refused the U.S.'s suggestion to give Ukraine its advanced S-400 air defense system it bought from Russia, Turkish news outlet Lodos Haber reported on May 7.
Defense Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu argued that the U.S.'s offer directly concerns Turkish sovereignty.
The U.S. has been trying to convince countries that operate Russian missiles like S-300 and S-400 to consider giving some to Ukraine.
“The US asked us to send the S-400s to Ukraine, and we said no,” Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu was cited as saying by state news agency Anadolu, and he added that such proposals were unacceptable as they sought to infringe on Turkish sovereignty.
Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 has been a point of contention with the US and NATO for years, as they cited concerns that it would compromise the security and interoperability of NATO's military operations. The US and NATO have warned Turkey that the S-400 system is not compatible with NATO's defense systems and could expose sensitive information to Russia.
The S-400 was developed in post-Soviet Russia, and is a more advanced and capable version of the S-300, which Ukraine extensively operates, but for which the interceptor missiles are limited.
As a result of Turkey's refusal to back down from the deal, the US has taken several punitive measures, including suspending Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program in 2019 and imposing sanctions on Turkish officials and entities involved in the purchase of the S-400.
The ongoing dispute has strained the relationship between Turkey and its NATO allies and raised questions about Turkey's strategic alignment in the region.
Asked about a possible return to the F-35 program, Çavuşoğlu said: “Ankara does not want to return to the program but rather wants back from Washington the money it paid for fighter jets before it was out of the program, while its jets were never delivered.”
He added that Turkey wants to improve its ties with the US, pointed to its current interest in buying F-16 jets and modernization kits.
Though a NATO member, Turkiye has attempted to remain neutral in the Ukraine-Russia war, given Ankara’s close economic ties with Russia.
According to Soner Cagaptay of the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), “Ankara’s Ukraine war policy could be best described as non-binary. On the one hand, Turkiye supports Ukraine militarily, providing Kiev with essential defensive and attack hardware, such as the Bayraktar drones. On the other hand, Turkiye has kept ties with Russia open economically, gifting Moscow with crucial access to global trade, markets, and airspace.
Turkiye also brokered a deal between Ukraine and Russia to keep grain exports flowing to world markets despite the conflict and facilitated peace negotiations between the two warring sides in the first month of the war. However, Washington and London derailed these.
The Pentagon reportedly spoke with Ankara about sending the S-400 to Kiev in exchange for giving Turkiye access to the fifth-generation F-35 fighter jet program and lifting sanctions imposed when Turkiye initially purchased the S-400 system from Russia over US objections.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already alleged that the request to supply Ukraine with its S-400 missile systems in exchange for sanctions relief was “a ploy against Ankara to stir up problems for the country.”
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