President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ruled out U.S. demands that Türkiye delay the purchase of an advanced Russian missile-defense system and said Moscow may bring forward the delivery date from July.
“It is definitely out of the question for us to step back on the issue of S-400s, it is a done deal,” Erdogan said in a televised speech in Istanbul late Saturday. “Our deal was to have the S-400s delivered to us by July; they will probably bring that forward.”
Erdogan’s stance could further strain ties between the NATO allies. The U.S. last week asked Ankara to delay taking the system to 2020, according to people familiar with the proposal.
(By Selcan Hacaoğlu)
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