ANKARA: Turkey is likely to sign a $3.4bn missile defence deal with a Chinese firm under US sanctions, a senior official said on Thursday, a proposal that is already straining relations with Washington.
Turkey sees a growing threat of spillover from the war in neighbouring Syria, as well as wider turbulence in the Middle East, and has been scrambling to bolster its air defences.
Murad Bayar, Undersecretary of Defence Industries at the Defence Ministry, told reporters in Ankara that Turkey could finalise the deal with China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp (CPMIEC) within six months.
Turkey’s Defence Ministry said last week it had chosen CPMIEC’s FD-2000 missile defence system over more expensive rival systems from Russian, US and European firms. Turkish leaders have stressed the deal is not final.
The United States has expressed “serious concerns” over North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member Turkey cooperating with CPMIEC, under sanctions for violations of the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act.
But Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey, which shares a 900km border with Syria, urgently needed to step up its air defences.
“With the latest crisis in Syria and the crises in the Middle East, we have realised ... that however strong our armed forces are in terms of conventional weapons, they are not at the desired level to counter missile and related threats,” he said in an interview on local television on Wednesday.
Turkey has seen Syria’s conflict frequently spill across its frontier and has responded in kind when mortars and shells fired from Syria have hit its soil.
NATO sources have said Turkish collaboration with China on the system could raise questions of compatibility of weaponry and of security.
Bayar said Turkey was not sharing any information on Nato defence systems with China and Turkey was not bound to comply with sanctions placed on CPMIEC as they were not drawn up by the United Nations.
REUTERS
