The United States on Monday announced sanctions against Turkey's Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) for the purchase of a S-400 missile system from Russia. Ankara condemned the "unilateral" sanctions, saying they would take "necessary steps" against the measures.
Rene Clarke Cooper, US Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, said the sanctions must not halt diplomatic and military relations between the two countries.
“Remember, the sanctions are on this particular entity, they’re on SSB. The sanctions are not on the Turkish Armed Forces. If anything, we of course have a relationship there with them again bilaterally, and of course through the NATO Alliance,” said the official in an interview with Rudaw’s Majeed Gly on Wednesday.
“The intent of the sanctions is to actually get to what one would call in the military a course correction in this space. The intent is to fix the situation,” stated Cooper.
The top official said the path to reconciliation is relatively straightforward.
“I already mentioned that having a system that is not only interoperable with U.S. systems but also with NATO systems would certainly get us back into that clarification, that reconciliation space,” he added, saying communication and coordination is in everyone’s best interests due to common interests.
The sanctions include "a ban on all US export licenses and authorizations to SSB and an asset freeze and visa restrictions on Dr Ismail Demir, SSB's president, and other SSB officers."
The SSB was established in its original form in 1985 as part of Turkey's defense ministry. Demir was appointed as its president in April 2014. He had previously worked as a general manager of Turkish Airlines' maintenance and repair unit, according to Reuters.
The defense body has carried out hundreds of projects, including jet engine development and ammunition production. It has been tasked to decrease reliance on foreign technology.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan brokered a $2.5 billion deal with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in 2017 for the sale of the S-400 missile system. This angered the US, and Turkey’s other NATO allies, who say the Russian defense system poses a risk to NATO and the US’ F-35 combat aircraft.
Ankara accepted the first batch of the missiles in the summer of 2019.
US President Donald Trump prepared the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) in August 2017, but has not sanctioned Turkey over its purchases until this week.
Turkey's foreign ministry has condemned the "unilateral" sanctions, blaming the US for "refusal to accept our proposals to resolve the issue through dialogue and diplomacy" in the past.
It added that Ankara will take "necessary steps" against the sanctions, according to a statement published on Monday night
"Turkey will not refrain from taking measures that it deems to be necessary to ensure national security," it said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has condemned the "coercive" sanctions as "illegitimate."
"This is, of course, another manifestation of an arrogant attitude towards international law, a manifestation of illegitimate, unilateral coercive measures that the United States has been using for many years, already decades, left and right," Lavrov said according to Russian news agencies.
