States have no friends, they only have Interests! This phrase, borrowed by General de Gaulle from Lord Palmerston, British Prime Minister during the reign of Queen Victoria, has apparently rarely been as appropriate as to describe the relations between the United States and its "ally". » Turkish. Visiting near the Syrian border, the American ambassador to Turkey, David Satterfield, declared that the United States was now studying the possibility of selling Patriot anti-aircraft systems to Ankara to ensure and strengthen defense capabilities on its southern border, particularly in the face of Syrian and Russian air force, if necessary. If such a contract were to be signed, it would mark yet another turnaround on the part of Turkish President RT Erdogan in his relations with Washington and Moscow, within a period of only a few years.
In 2013, it was following the Obama administration's refusal to sell modern Patriot systems to Turkish forces that Ankara turned towards China, signing a $3 billion order for FD2000 systems, the Chinese equivalent of S-300V. Pressure from NATO eventually led the Turkish authorities to cancel this contract, but following the 2016 coup attempt and the renewed mistrust on the part of President Erdogan towards from the United States, suspected of being behind this initiative, Ankara turned to an unexpected supplier, Moscow, to acquire S-400 system batteries.
75% of this article remains to read,
Subscribe to access it!
The Classic subscriptions provide access to
articles in their full version, and without advertising,
from 6,90 €.
Newsletter subscription
Register for the Meta-Defense Newsletter to receive the
latest fashion articles daily or weekly