Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey is still intending to buy a second batch of missile defense systems from Russia, a move that triggered US sanctions and deepened a rift with Washington.
In an interview, Erdogan said nobody can interfere with what defense systems Ankara, a NATO ally, would buy.
“Nobody can interfere with that. We are the only ones to make such decisions.”
Turkish President Tayyip ErdogaN
Washington has repeatedly said a second batch of the S-400s would almost certainly trigger fresh US sanctions.
Erdogan also said Biden — who has repeatedly said promoting democracy and rights and freedoms worldwide is at the heart of his foreign policy — never in their meetings raised issues with Turkey’s human rights track record.
Erdogan said on Thursday that Turkey’s ties with the United States were not healthy and that Washington needed to “sort out” issues over Ankara’s purchase of Russian S-400 defense systems.
Erdogan will visit Russia next week to meet President Vladimir Putin to discuss issues including the violence in northwestern Syria