Turkic Council stands with Turkey against US sanctions

By Dilan Pamuk

ANKARA (AA) – The Turkic Council on Tuesday voice support for Turkey against the US sanctions.

Gismat Gozalov, deputy secretary general of the council, said: “The US decision to impose unilateral sanctions on Turkey is unfair.”

“We stand with Turkey and support the proposal to address this issue in an objective, realistic and politically unbiased manner via dialogue and diplomacy,” he wrote on Twitter.

The US on Monday imposed sanctions on Turkey, a NATO ally, over its purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system.

In April 2017, when its protracted efforts to buy an air defense system from the US proved fruitless, Turkey signed a contract with Russia to acquire the S-400 shield.

US officials have voiced opposition to their deployment, claiming they would be incompatible with NATO systems and would expose F-35 jets to possible Russian subterfuge.

Turkey, however, stressed that the S-400 would not be integrated into NATO systems, and poses no threat to the alliance or its armaments.

Turkey has also repeatedly proposed a working group to examine the technical compatibility issue.