ANKARA (Sputnik) – Turkey is ready to discuss possible cooperation in the development of a national missile defense system with all the countries concerned, including Russia, Turkey's Undersecretary for Defense Industries Ismail Demir said Tuesday.
"Turkey intends to discuss its plans on the missile defense system development with all the parties concerned, including Russia," Demir said at a press conference in Ankara.
On October 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed cooperation in the field of defense industry in Istanbul. Three days after that, Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said that Moscow and Anakara had agreed to work out the details of a possible cooperation on implementing the Turkish national missile defense system project.
In 2013, Chinese company CPMIEC, which submitted the bid of 3.4 billion dollars, won the tender. However, a range of disputes occurred between Turkey and China.
In November last year, Turkey officially cancelled the tender as it decided to develop a national missile defense project.
