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In his speech, Erdogan said: “What kind of alliance is this? This decision is a clear violation of our sovereignty”, referring to the affiliation of Turkey and the United States to NATO.
Under a law passed almost unanimously by Congress in 2017, aiming to “confront America’s opponents through sanctions,” the United States imposed sanctions on the Turkish government’s administration for the purchase of weapons in the context of possession by Ankara of the Russian S-400 air defense system.
The decision also stipulates the imposition of sanctions against the head of this administration, Ismail Demir, and other officials of the Turkish government agency.
Turkey responded vigorously to US sanctions related to its purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system, but actually avoided the worst due to the selective nature of the sanctions that did not include its primarily troubled economy, experts say.
In his speech, Erdogan rejected the US argument that the S-400s pose a “security threat” to NATO’s defense systems.
He said: “It is an excuse. The real goal is to stop our country’s momentum in the defense industry and make us completely re-dependent on others.”
“Turkey is long past the stage where it was possible that these types of sanctions could prevent it. We will double our efforts to make our defense industry independent.”
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