"Like Watching A Car Crash In Slow Motion": Turkey Balks At US Sanction Threat, Warns It May Evict US Forces From Military Bases
Despite mounting political and diplomatic pressure by the US and its NATO allies, Turkey has again balked at US attempts of intimidation and dug into its refusal to abandon a new Russian missile defense, saying it won’t bow to the threat of crippling US sanctions or trade the S-400s for an American system.
"They said they would not sell Patriots unless we get rid of the S-400s. It is out of question for us to accept such a precondition," said Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, late on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting, quoted by Bloomberg.
"An irrational anti-Turkish sentiment has prevailed in the Congress and it is not good for Turkish-American relations," Kalin added, noting that Congress "should know that such language of threat would push Turkey exactly toward places that they don’t want it turn to." Namely, right into the hands of Vladimir Putin, who is on even better terms with Erdogan than Trump, despite Turkey taking down a Russian fighter jet over its territory several years back.
Separately, as the WSJ reported this morning, Erdogan once again warned that he would evict U.S. forces from two military bases in his country if Washington imposes new sanctions on his government, creating a bitter quandary for NATO as it seeks to cope with Ankara’s deepening ties to Russia.
In a television interview this month, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said if the U.S. punishes Turkey for its purchase of a Russian air-defense system, then, "if necessary, we may close Incirlik and Kureci," installations where the U.S. keeps approximately 50 B61 nuclear weapons, and operates critical radar.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/watching-car-crash-slow-motion-turkey-balks-us-sanction-threat-warns-it-may-evict-us