...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund...over its purchase of Russian defence systems were an attack on Ankara's sovereign rights aimed at deterring its defence industry, a move which he said was bound to fail.
On Monday, Washington imposed the sanctions targeting NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
member Turkey's Defence Industry Directorate (SSB), its chief Ismail Demir and three other employees over its acquisition of Russian S-400 missile defence systems.In his first public comments on the move, Erdogan said that problems stemming from the sanctions would be overcome and vowed to ramp up efforts towards an independent defence industry, while criticising Washington for sanctioning a NATO ally.
"What kind of alliance is this? What kind of partnership is this? This decision is an open hostile attack against our country's sovereign rights," he said in a televised address.
"The real goal is to block the advances our country started in the defence industry recently and to once again render us absolutely dependent on them," he added.
"Surely there will be problems, but each problem will push open a door for us for a solution."
Washington says the S-400s pose a threat to its F-35 fighter jets and to NATO's broader defence systems. Turkey rejects this and says S-400s will not be integrated into NATO. On Wednesday, Erdogan repeated that the U.S. concerns had no technical basis.