Spokesman for the Turkish president, Ibrahim Kalin, said that Turkish and American officials have started working on resolving the S-400 issue, which has been spoiling US-Turkish relations since December 2017, TRT Haber reported. Specifically, they will be evaluating the impact that the Russian air defence systems could have on the US-made F-35 jets, the aide added.

Kalin further said that the option of Turkey discarding the already acquired S-400s is “out of question”, but noted that the Russian system will not be integrated into the NATO defence grid – something that numerous experts have warned against or deemed practically impossible to do.

Possible Delay in Anti-Turkey Sanctions

US Senator and head of the Foreign Relations Committee Jim Risch has called on the Senate to put a motion to impose sanctions on Turkey on hold, claiming that there is a possibility that Ankara could change its stance on one of the issues troubling Washington – the purchase and use of Russian S-400 air defence systems.

“We think that there’s going to be movement relatively soon on the S-400s. As long as there is positive movement we ought to sit tight, because I think we’re probably going to want to evaluate our position somewhat if indeed we get the S-400s resolved”, Risch said.

It’s worth noting that although Congress has repeatedly threatened to impose sanctions over Ankara’s purchase of Russian weapons, the bill currently passing through the US legislature was introduced due to the Turkish military operation in Syria, which predominantly targeted US allies in the region – Kurdish militants. Risch’s fellow Republican Senator Lindsey Graham stated earlier that sanctions over the acquisition of S-400s could still come in the future, with Washington giving Ankara time to reconsider.

It’s worth noting that although Congress has repeatedly threatened to impose sanctions over Ankara’s purchase of Russian weapons, the bill currently passing through the US legislature was introduced due to the Turkish military operation in Syria, which predominantly targeted US allies in the region – Kurdish militants. Risch’s fellow Republican Senator Lindsey Graham stated earlier that sanctions over the acquisition of S-400s could still come in the future, with Washington giving Ankara time to reconsider.

Tense Meeting in White House

The issue of Russian S-400s in Turkey was raised among other matters during the meeting at the White House between President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on 13 November. Both Risch and Graham were present at the discussion and engaged Erdogan on both the S-400s and the Kurds.

Risch stated that he personally warned Erdogan about the consequences of acquiring S-400s from Russia, specifically that it would prevent Turkey from getting its desired F-35 jets. The senator explained to the Turkish president that he was in a position to prevent the sale of the fifth-generation jet to Ankara and that he would do so unless Turkey concedes to the US demands.

“I’m not going to sign off on the F-35 so long as they have the S-400 missiles. I’ve been telling them that for about a year. I think they didn’t really believe us. I think he just wasn’t accepting that answer, but after [meeting at the White House] he clearly knows where we stand”, Risch said.

Despite a certain degree of optimism regarding the S-400s, the senator entertained little hope for resolving the issue that originally led to the US sanctions on Turkey – its offensive in northern Syria. Risch recalled that Erdogan showed those present at the meeting a video about terrorist attacks on Turkey allegedly carried out by Kurdish militants, but stated that not all Kurds are terrorists (a notion that is not disputed by Ankara) and insisted that Turkish forces need to remain within the pre-negotiated safe zone.

Bilateral Working Group

While the 13 November meeting between the two presidents at the White House didn’t yield immediate results in terms of mending the recently strained relations between the US and Turkey, some progress was made. Namely, Trump announced plans to gather national security experts from both sides to come up with a solution to the S-400 issue.

President Erdogan, in turn, stated the following day after the meeting that Turkey would never discard the S-400 systems, calling Turkey’s acquisition of them a sovereign matter and slamming US demands to ditch them as “not right”. The president further reaffirmed earlier statements that Ankara is ready to buy US Patriots in addition to the S-400s.

The US suspended the delivery of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey this year after Ankara refused to meet Washington’s demands to drop a contract on the purchase of Russian S-400 systems. Ankara insisted that the purchase of the S-400s is a matter of national security and pointed out that the US had refused to sell its own air defence systems when Turkey needed them.