Ankara, July 19: Soon after the United States ousted Turkey from the F-35 fighter jets training programme, President Donald Trump has said on Thursday it has not yet ruled out the possibility of imposing sanctions on Ankara over its deal to purchase S-400 air missile defence system from Russia.
“It’s a very, very difficult situation for a lot of reasons … So, we’re looking at it. We’ll see what we do. We haven’t announced that yet,” Trump was quoted by Al-Jazeera as saying.
On Wednesday, the White House has said Turkey’s decision to purchase the Russian S-400 air defence system “renders its continued involvement with the F-35 impossible”.
Meanwhile, Ankara showed unease over the US’ decision to remove it from a joint fighter jets’ training programme, according to ANI news reports.
Last week, Turkey received its first tranch of delivery of Russian S-400sm defying Washington’s pressure. Russian Times has quoted Turkish ministry of national defence as saying the parts arrived outside the capital at the Murted military airfield.
Earlier, the US had warned Ankara to face “very real and very negative consequences” if it seals its deal with Russia for S-400 surface-to-air missile defence systems.
Trump on Tuesday refused to condemn Turkey’s purchase deal of Russia-made S-400 air defence missile systems, strongly opposed by its NATO allies and the Pentagon, and blamed his predecessor, ex-President Barack Obama for Ankara’s move.
A meeting has been held between Trump and Erdogan on the sidelines of the summit held in Osaka, Japan, following which the Turkish leader claimed the US president assured him during talks that he would not attempt to impose any sanction on Ankara. Moreover, the US administration has not confirmed assurance yet.
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