​Erdogan wows to take delivery of S-400s

TURKEY - In Brief 12 Jun 2019 by Atilla Yesilada

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According to state-owned Anatolian Agency, President Erdogan rebutted threats by US Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan during his address to party caucus on Wednesday: “Turkey has already bought the Russian S-400 missile defense systems, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, stressing that it is a done deal. “I'm not saying Turkey will buy S-400 defense systems, it has already bought them; we’ve closed the deal,” Erdogan told his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party’s group meeting in the capital Ankara. He noted that Ankara and Moscow had signed the deal with a pledge for a reasonable price and future joint production. “This [S-400] system will be delivered to our country next month,” Erdogan added. Since I receive questions on S-400s from my audience, I felt compelled to summarize my latest thoughts on the subject. My audience should note that it is difficult for me to guess what runs through Erdogan’s mind or who is telling him what. Clearly, election pressure plays a role in his defiance of US and NATO.However, my screening of the pro-AKP press lets me think he is suffering under several illusions. First, he thinks Turkey is indispensable to F-35 program and kicking the country out will delay production for years. Secondly, he believes in several phone conversations Trump promised him it is OK to buy S-400s. Finally, he or most of Turkey don’t understand that there are separation ofpowers in US—unlike in Turkey—that is the Congress acts independently of White House. He may be calculating that even if Congress passes CAATSA legislation against Turkey, Trump will waive it as he did to “the ban on Saudi weapons sales”.Additionally, it is not...