ANKARA, October 9. /TASS/. Ankara may drop the intention to purchase S-400 air defense systems from Russia, if no agreement on their joint production is achieved, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told the daily Aksam in an interview.

"We have heard no official refusal on that score. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin told us we may take steps for joint production. Know-how will be crucial. If Russia’s attitude is negative, we may clinch a deal with another country," he said.

"We must purchase them (S-400) urgently, because we need them. We’ve got to protect our airspace. But if some anti-Russia-minded countries do not want Turkey to purchase S-400 from it, then they must provide their alternative," Cavusoglu said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on September 12 that Ankara had signed a contract with Moscow for purchasing S-400 air defense systems and that a deposit had been put down already. Russian presidential aide for military-technical cooperation Vladimir Kozhin confirmed this at the end of September, adding that the handover of S-400 production knowhow to Turkey was not on the agenda.