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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşolu said: “Turkey will not back down from its steps to strengthen its defense industries due to sanctions imposed by the United States.”
On December 14, the United States announced the imposition of sanctions on Turkey in response to its purchase of the Russian “S-400” missiles.
Çavuşolu confirmed, during a press conference today from Sochi, that Turkey rejects the sanctions regardless of the party that imposed them, indicating that the US sanctions decision (Katsa) is incorrect in legal and political terms.
Çavuşolu considered that the decision to impose the sanctions was legally incorrect, because the agreement to purchase the S-400 air defense systems from Turkey was signed before the promulgation of the “Katsa” law.
The US sanctions against Turkey came in accordance with the law that punishes countries that cooperate with their opponents, known as “Katsa”, which was signed by outgoing US President Donald Trump.
And US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stressed that the goal of the sanctions against Turkey is “to prevent Russia from gaining influence and not to undermine Turkey’s military capabilities.”
Pompeo also urged Turkey to solve the advanced missile system problem “in a manner consistent with decades of defense cooperation between Washington and Ankara.”
It is noteworthy that the US sanctions were imposed on the Turkish Defense Industries Corporation and its president, Ismail Demir, to prevent the issuance of licenses to export products to this body in addition to freezing the assets of the sanctioned figures.
