The United States again called on Turkey on Wednesday to abandon the S-400 missile system it bought from Russia, appearing to close the door to a negotiating offer made by Ankara.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said in an interview published Tuesday that his government was prepared not to use the S-400s to ease tensions over this issue which is poisoning relations between the two allied countries within the 'NATO.
Read also: American justice accuses Turkish bank Halkbank of fraud in connection with Iran
"We are open to negotiations on a model similar to that in force for the S-300 present on the island of Crete, in Greece,"
he said.
He added that Turkey did not have to use the S-400
"all the time",
but that it would decide
"according to the state of the threat".
Faced with strong protests from Turkey, Cyprus in 1999 gave up deploying S-300 missiles ordered from Russia on its territory and installed them in Crete in agreement with Athens.
Asked about this possible Turkish diplomatic opening, the spokesman for the US Department replied Wednesday that Washington's policy on this issue had
"not changed".
"The Russian S-400s are incompatible with NATO equipment, they threaten the security of NATO technology and they do not comply with Turkey's commitments as a NATO member,"
he said. Ned Price said to the press.
"We continue to urge Turkey not to keep this system,"
he insisted.
US officials have also relativized the parallel with the S-300, judging that the S-400 was a much more sophisticated system.
Washington in December banned the granting of all arms export permits to SSB, the Turkish government agency responsible for the procurement of military equipment, to punish Ankara for the acquisition of the S-400s.
Prior to the sanctions, the United States further suspended Turkey's participation in the manufacturing program for the state-of-the-art F-35 warplane, believing the S-400s could unlock its technological secrets.
The shelving of Russian missiles by Turkey could nevertheless, according to some observers, satisfy American demands.
