By Ahval
Turkey’s determination on purchasing the Russian S-400 air defence systems crippled Turkey’s position within NATO, analyst Sabahat Khan wrote in the Arab Weekly on Sunday.
“Turkey’s insistence on seeing through the purchase of the Russia-made S-400 missile defence system has strained these ties, bringing it to a strategic crossroads that could uproot its NATO role and future,” said Khan, a senior analyst at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis.
The U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO said Ankara’s recent close relations with Russia and purchase of S-400 missile defence systems are worrying issues that are seriously impacting Turkey’s place in the NATO alliance. Meanwhile, some U.S. senators have called for sanctions to be imposed on Turkey if it proceeds with the procurement of Russian missiles.
“If sanctions against Turkey are imposed over its purchase of Russia’s S-400, US President Donald Trump will most certainly let them be because he maintains a transactional view of US ties with Turkey,” Khan said.
And if Turkey maintains favouring Russian systems, “a fissure inside NATO” is probable, according to Khan.
