Turkey will buy Russian missiles

ISTANBUL — Turkey has signed a deal to purchase a Russian surfaceto-air missile system, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Tuesday, according to the Turkish news media.

The deal comes as Turkey has negotiated a rapprochement with Russia, and as its ties with the United States and European Union have worsened.

Erdogan’s announcement Tuesday confirmed that Turkey had transferred money to pay for the missile system, known as the S-400.

The deal is certain to stir unease in Washington and Brussels, where officials are trying to keep Turkey — a longtime NATO member, and an increasingly unlikely candidate for EU membership — from entering Russia’s sphere of influence.

The purchase of the system flies in the face of cooperation within the NATO alliance, which normally entails buying compatible NATO-approved systems.

As if anticipating criticism by NATO, he added: “Nobody has the right to discuss the Turkish republic’s independence principles or independent decisions about its defense industry.

“We make the decisions about our own independence ourselves — we are obliged to take safety and security measures in order to defend our country.”

Since a dangerous falling out in 2015, when a Russian warplane was shot down by Turkish jets on Turkey’s border with Syria, the country has sought to improve relations with Russia.