A report in Turkish media claimed that Turkey may have sold its Russian-made S-400 air defense systems to a Gulf country. Hürriyet columnist Abdulkadir Selvi went further, writing in his column today that the S-400s were indeed sold and an official announcement could be made today.
The newspaper reported that the parties resolved the last disputes last night and the expected announcement for the sale could come today. The report named the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar as possible buyers, but stressed that official confirmation is needed.
Meanwhile, a Turkish government source speaking to RIA Novosti said that reports about the S-400s being transferred to a third country do not reflect the truth. The source stated that such claims are not true.
Turkey signed a contract with Russia for the S-400s in 2017 and took delivery of the systems in the summer-autumn period of 2019. During the process, the US offered Turkey the Patriot systems, but Ankara insisted on the Russia option, leading Washington to remove Turkey from the F-35 program and impose CAATSA sanctions.
This week, US President Donald Trump stated that Turkey possessing the S-400s did not concern him in the context of the F-35 deal, and announced that sanctions on Ankara would be lifted. However, Trump added that a final decision on the sale of F-35s has not yet been made. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for his part, announced that they had received a promise of five new F-35s from the US.
