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2.0 Politics
2.1 Trump under bipartisan pressure to sanction Turkey, Erdogan says S-400s will be fully operational by April 2020
Both Republican and Democratic US lawmakers have been urging President Donald Trump to hit Turkey with sanctions over its purchase of Russian S-400 missile defence systems.
On July 25, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington would like to see Turkey decline to make the S-400s operational.
In response to the S-400 purchase, the US has kicked Turkey out of the F-35 fighter jet programme, ending its plans to acquire more than 100 of the stealth aircraft.
Washington has also warned it could impose economic sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
But President Donald Trump has so far been equivocal on the issue.
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has sought to downplay the disagreement between Turkey and the military bloc over Ankara’s decision to purchase the S-400s, insisting it does not imply Turkey is turning away from the West and towards Russia. “No,” Stoltenberg said, speaking at the annual Aspen Security Forum in Colorado on July 17. “This is a serious issue, it’s about the S-400 and the F-35, but Turkey’s contributions to Nato and Nato’s cooperation with Turkey runs much deeper than the F-35.” Turkey is a “key ally” in the fight against ISIS, for example, Stoltenberg said, as well as a partner in Nato missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan. “I’m not underestimating the difficulty related to the S-400 but I’m saying that Turkey as a Nato member is much more than S-400,” he added.
The Pentagon said Turkey was producing more than 900 parts for the F- 35, a stealth fighter that is the world’s most advanced military jet. Also according to the Pentagon, production of those parts will be shifted from Turkish to largely US factories. It estimated that this would cost Turkey some $9bn over the life of the programme. According to information on the official site of the F-35 programme, eight companies—namely Alp Aviation, Ayesas, Fokker Elmo, Havelsan, Kale Aerospace, Roketsan-Tubitak-SAGE and the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI)—have been signed up to support the development and production of F-35s. Turkish companies involved in the project were described as producing missile remote interface units, the panoramic cockpit display (Ayesas), landing gear components and engine parts (Alp Aviation), wiring systems (Fokker Elmo), airframe structures and assemblies (Kale), the advanced precision-guided Stand-off Missile (Roketsan- Tubitak-SAGE), the centre fuselages, composite skins, weapon bay doors and air inlet ducts (TAI). Havelsan was involved in the development of training systems. Turkey has the second largest armed forces of Nato members. The size of the Turkish aviation and defence industry grew from $1.86bn in 2006 to $8.76bn in 2018. Its exports jumped from a tiny $487mn to $2bn over the same period. In 2018, Turkish defence companies’ main export markets were the US ($736mn), Germany ($226mn), Oman ($153mn), and Qatar ($83mn).
A Turkish diplomat was shot dead by assailants at a restaurant in the Kurdish-controlled Iraqi city of Irbil, Turkey’s foreign ministry confirmed on July 17.
If Washington slaps sanctions on Turkey over its acquisition of Russian S-400 air defence systems, the US use of two strategically vital military
5 TURKEY Country Report August 2019 www.intellinews.com