The United States and Turkey are in talks over the offer to deal US Patriot missile defence system, Ankara’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said on Friday. He said both countries’ delegation teams are in negotiating a process to purchase Patriot system from the US.
According to Reuters news reports, Cavusoglu was quoted by a source as saying, “The United States said they could sell Patriots, and the delegations are negotiating.”
Cavusoglu’s comment has come after Bloomberg has reported that Ankara had rejected the US proposal to purchase a Patriot missile defence statement from Washington by the end of the year.
During negotiations, the US has said to provide one missile system to Ankara, following Turkish objection over the delivery times, Cavusoglu was quoted by Anadolu news agency. He added the possibility of the joint production or the transfer of tech were also critical for Turkey.
While offering the Patriot systems to Turkey, the US has warned its NATO ally against buying a Russian missile defence system – S-400 –, saying it cannot be integrated into NATO air defences.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara remains committed to the agreement for the Russian S-400 missile defence system.
Cavusoglu said, “They (S-400s) will be delivered towards the end of this year in autumn. We bought S-400s because we could not purchase the Patriots.”
US officials said if Turkey proceeds further with Russian missile system, then Washington would withdraw its offer to sell $3.5 billion Raytheon Co missile package, and could possibly bar the sale of fighter jets to Turkey as well as could impose sanctions.