Turkey vows to retaliate if US halts F-35 delivery
Friday - May 25, 2018 8:01 pm ,
Category : WORLD
Turkey vows to retaliate if US halts F-35 delivery
Ankara May 25 (IANS) Turkey will retaliate if the US suspends delivery of F-35 fighter jets the country s Foreign Ministry warned on Friday.
A US Senate committee bill aiming to prevent Turkey from purchasing Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets was "against the spirit of our alliance with the US" Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said.
"This is not a programme managed merely by the US. It s a multinational programme and we expect everybody to fulfil their obligations."
If the US takes such steps "we will have to respond" the spokesman warned.
Aksoy also vowed protection of Turkey s firms following a decision by the US Treasury Department to impose sanctions on several Iranian and Turkish companies in a move targeting Iranian airlines.
On Thursday a US Senate committee passed a bill to block Turkey from purchasing Lockheed Martin F-35 jets over its detention of the US priest Andrew Brunson. The bill also demanded steps against Turkey s agreement with Russia to buy S-400 surface-to-air missiles in December 2017.
Lockheed Martin was expected to deliver the first F-35 fighter jet to Turkey on June 21.
Turkey is scheduled to buy more than 100 F-35 fighter jets while negotiating with Washington over the purchase of Patriot missiles.
--IANS soni/mr
A US Senate committee bill aiming to prevent Turkey from purchasing Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets was "against the spirit of our alliance with the US" Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said.
"This is not a programme managed merely by the US. It s a multinational programme and we expect everybody to fulfil their obligations."
If the US takes such steps "we will have to respond" the spokesman warned.
Aksoy also vowed protection of Turkey s firms following a decision by the US Treasury Department to impose sanctions on several Iranian and Turkish companies in a move targeting Iranian airlines.
On Thursday a US Senate committee passed a bill to block Turkey from purchasing Lockheed Martin F-35 jets over its detention of the US priest Andrew Brunson. The bill also demanded steps against Turkey s agreement with Russia to buy S-400 surface-to-air missiles in December 2017.
Lockheed Martin was expected to deliver the first F-35 fighter jet to Turkey on June 21.
Turkey is scheduled to buy more than 100 F-35 fighter jets while negotiating with Washington over the purchase of Patriot missiles.
--IANS soni/mr
