Moscow and Ankara reached an agreement on supplying Russian S-400 missile aircraft aircraft to Turkey. The contract has already been signed and an initial payment has already been made, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has anticipated. The delivery of these devices to Turkey meets the geopolitical interests of the Russian Federation, underlined in a note the Federal Service for Russian Military Cooperation.
Turkey has allocated 2,5 billions of dollars to buy the Russian missile defense system series, provided that Moscow also accepts the transfer of technology.
According to a report PressTv, "For Turkey, the key aspect of any agreement is the transfer of technologies or know-how. The Russian agreement to allow the production of two S-400 batteries in Turkey will serve this purpose, "Bloomberg reported.
Under the agreement, Russia will send two S-400 systems to Turkey and then help the country produce two more batteries.
If such an agreement were made, it would be a serious blow to the Atlantic Alliance. NATO has tried to prevent Turkey, which is a strategic member, from forging ties with Russia. However, Ankara's eastward shift appears to be a result of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's growing frustration with the West and particularly with the United States of America.
Ankara has been greatly jeopardized by Washington's failure to comply with its demands for the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, key figure in the Turkish opposition, which Turkey accuses of having put into effect the coup last year. The Turkish government says it has "85 concrete evidence boxes" demonstrating how Gulen is behind the 15 coup attempt in July last year, where some 250 people were killed and wounded over 2100.
Erdogan has also been disappointed by US support for some Kurdish groups in Iraq and Syria, which has been considered a threat to his country's national security. The S400 decision can be seen as a response from Turkey to Washington's decision in the 2015 to withdraw its Patriot missile system from the Syria border.
Before turning to Russia, the Turkish military had shown interest in closing a $ 3,4 deal for a similar Chinese system, then abandoned after the US's strong pressure.
Neither the S-400 system nor its Chinese equivalent, FD200, are compatible with other NATO military systems, which means that they are not bound by Allied statements that prevent Turkey from placing such weapons on the Armenian border on the Aegean coast or on the Greek border. Turkish S-400 would not be equipped with the "friend or foe" (Friend or Enem) identification system, a fact that allows it to be used against all targets without any restriction.