Ankara and Washington began negotiating Turkey’s purchase of Patriot missile defense systems from the US, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Friday.
NEGOTIATIONS BEGAN
“A positive response came from the Americans to the last letter we sent regarding the Patriot issue two years ago and negotiations have begun,” Çavuşoğlu told a local broadcaster in the central province of Eskişehir.
He underlined that various factors including the price, delivery timetable and prospects for transfer of the system’s technology would also carry weight in the negotiation process, adding that Washington offered to send one system at an earlier date after Ankara’s objections on the late delivery of a separate system.
After protracted efforts to purchase air defense systems from the US with no success, in 2017 Ankara decided to buy Russian S-400 air defense systems. “We are buying the S-400s because we couldn’t purchase the Patriots,” Çavuşoğlu said, adding that the sale would be made only if it is found to be in the interests of Ankara.