The Turkish government may seek retaliation to the American sanctions, as Ankara eventually chose Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, refusing to buy F-35, U.S. fifth-generation stealth fighters. Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said this as quoted by Reuters.
''If the United States takes any negative actions towards us, we will also take reciprocal steps,'' he told the press as quoted by the news agency.
Turkey purchased the S-4000 Triumph missile systems from Russia last month. The head of the Relationship Office of the Presidential Administration of Turkey Fahrettin Altun reported that on May 11.
Certain Western arms experts assume that Turkey risks being cut out of manufacture and use of American F-35 fighter jets. That ''could mark a step toward a re-evaluation of its 67-year membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization'', as Reuters put it.
