Turkey might ‘rethink’ Boeing plane orders if US proceeds with more sanctions – Erdogan
Turkey’s president has urged the US to be “reasonable” over sanctions against the country, issuing a thinly-veiled threat that Ankara might reconsider the purchase of 100 Boeing passenger jets if relations deteriorate further.
“Even if we’re not getting F-35s, we are buying 100 advanced Boeing aircraft, the agreement is signed… At the moment, one of the Boeing planes has arrived and we are making the payments, we are good customers,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Ankara on Friday, adding that “if things go on like that, we will have to rethink this matter.”
The ongoing row between Ankara and Washington over the S-400s has already resulted in the suspension of the delivery of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey in an attempt to pressure it into abandoning the deal. The US has repeatedly said that Russian-made weaponry somehow hurts NATO security and might “compromise” the F-35s if the two get anywhere close.
Turkey, however, has seen the deal through despite all the pressure – earlier this month, the first batch of the Russian-made systems arrived. The delivery sent US officials into a frenzy and resulted in a whole volley of new threats against Turkey. In an apparent last-ditch effort to disrupt the deal between Russia and Turkey, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Ankara not to render the S-400s “operational” – or it will face more sanctions.
Turkey, however, seems to be unshaken by the ongoing threats; Erdogan stressed the deployment of the S-400 will go according to schedule and the systems will be online in April 2020, after all the required assembly works and crew training. Aside from mulling possibility of scrapping the Boeing deals, Erdogan vowed to “actively use” the anti-aircraft systems after they go online.
The threat against Boeing might be quite serious – for the scandals-entangled company, at least – given the amount of planes Ankara has ordered. As for now, it has active orders on 100 Boeing aircraft, worth around $10bn. In 2013, the nation’s flagship carrier, Turkish Airlines, announced a decision to purchase 75 ‘737 MAX’ planes, the jets which are currently grounded after two fatal crashes. In 2018, the company said it will purchase an additional 25 Boeing 787-9 jets. Several new planes were delivered to Turkey earlier this year.
Also on rt.com Pompeo warns Turkey not to render S-400 ‘operational’ or face ‘more sanctions’All the machines are scheduled to be delivered by 2023, and are expected to greatly boost Boeing’s presence in the Turkish airline’s fleet. The carrier already operates some 150 planes produced by the manufacturer, but the majority of them are rented.
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