Turkey to get both S-400s and F-35s, says minister

Turkey will be able to purchase S-400 missile systems from Russia and F-35 fighter aircraft from the United States, the country’s Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli said Tuesday.

Earlier, the head of the Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Volkan Bozkir, had warned that the US would not deliver F-35s to Ankara because Washington was unhappy at President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to buy Russian defense systems.

“These two plans are unrelated. We have already agreed to buy the S-400 anti-missile defense systems [from Russia] and this does not affect the purchase of the F-35s from the United States,” Canakli said.

Turkey signed the final agreement with Russia to purchase the S-400 last December, a move that raised fears that Donald Trump’s administration would introduce sanctions.

However, this has not happened yet and a number of analysts have expressed doubt that the anti-missile systems will even be installed.