Pentagon warns Turkey of ‘grave consequences’

The chief Pentagon spokesman yesterday said there will “grave consequences” to military relations between the United States and Turkey should Ankara go ahead with the purchase a Russian S-400 missile system, US government funded news outlet Voice of America reported.

“If Turkey takes the S-400, there would be grave consequences in terms of our relationship, military relationship with them,” Charlie Summers told reporters, noting that the consequences would include losing US military sales to Turkey, including the long-awaited sale of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet.

Turkey and Russia finalised an agreement worth a reported $2.5 billion on the sale of the Russian missile defence systems in December 2017 despite objections from its NATO allies, who are concerned that the system could collect data on NATO jets and undermine their defences.

Ankara, for its part, maintains the S-400 offers the best value for its needs and is not a threat to NATO systems.