Turkey will not back down from its decision to buy Russian S-400 missile defense systems and rejects any ultimatums on the issue, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Thursday in response to U.S. warnings about the purchase, APA reports citing Daily Sabah.
Çavuşoğlu was responding to a question about a letter in which U.S. acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan warned Turkey that it would be pulled out of the F-35 fighter jet program unless Ankara changed course from its plans to install the S-400s.
"The language and content of U.S. Defense Secretary Shanahan's letter is unacceptable, will not make Turkey back down from its decisions; if there are concerns about S-400's we should establish a working group with the participation of NATO," the minister said in a joint press conference with French counterpart Le Drian.
Responding to question about France's links with the PKK terrorist group's Syrian affiliate, the People's Protection Units (YPG), the minister said that Turkey does not approve France's close cooperation with the terrorists.
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