Turkey began to receive the S-400 air-defense missile-defense system on Friday despite U.S. warnings not to do so.
Materials arrived at the Murted Air Base, announced the Turkish Defense Ministry.
The source said that a third delivery, consisting of more than “120 anti-aircraft missiles of various types” will arrive in Turkey “tentatively at the end of the summer, by sea.”
CNN reported that “TASS also quoted the source saying that Turkish S-400 operators will travel to Russia for training in July and August. About 20 Turkish servicemen underwent training at a Russian training center in May and June, according to the source.”
Turkey went through with the acquisition, defying repeated warnings from the United States, which has blocked the sale of the F-35 fighter jet in response, in addition to threatening sanctions on Ankara.
“After numerous attempts by the United States to convince Turkey from purchasing and delivering the Russian S-400 missiles, [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan decided to take his own path,” Diliman Abdulkader, director of external relations at Allegiance Strategies, LLC, and a Middle East analyst, told JNS. “Congress, and the Administration must respond to such actions with sanctions against its defense industry and economy. American service members, technology, and allies are now under threat thanks to its so-called NATO ally.”
Abdulkader remarked that “Turkey is no longer a reliable American ally, and NATO is at risk,” and that Friday’s development “is a clear violation” of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.
“A gradual withdrawal from Incirlik air base by the U.S. should also be on the table,” he added. “Russian influence is here to stay in the new Turkey.”