Turkey makes offer to US to resolve S-400 row

Although Turkey is expected to activate its Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems in April, the issue appears off the agenda of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavusoglu recently announced that Turkey was still willing to purchase US-made Patriot long-range air defense missiles.

Speaking at a virtual Atlantic Council event on Tuesday, he also repeated his offer to the US to establish a technical working group, including NATO, to resolve the dispute over Ankara’s purchase of the S-400.

Ties between the two NATO allies deteriorated last year over Turkey’s acquisition of the Russian system, which saw Washington remove Turkey from its Lockheed Martin F-35 jet program in July.

Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, Ankara director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, thinks that there is now a window of opportunity for the US and Turkey to first freeze the S-400 problem and then solve it. “Given that the most imminent threat to Turkey is another battle in Idlib with Russian-backed Syrian regime forces, Turkey would benefit from immediate deployment of Patriot batteries on its border with Syria,” he told Arab News.

For Caglar Kurc, an Ankara-based researcher on defense, the activation of the S-400s will be delayed.

“But I do not know how long it will be delayed. There are a couple of reasons for this,” he told Arab News. “First, Turkey has been searching for ways to mend its relations with the US, especially after the events in Idlib. Second, the coronavirus pandemic seems to have frozen political brinkmanship on this issue. Both states have more pressing issues at hand and no one would like to take on a crisis at this time,” he said.

The S-400 deal between Russia and Turkey dates back to April 2017, when the two inked a $2.5 billion agreement for S-400 batteries.