"It’s unfortunate what they’ve chosen to do by purchasing the S-400 weapons system. We urge them to reconsider that and to pull it back", Pompeo said on the Hugh Hewitt radio show. "We need Turkey to be a good NATO partner to assist in the security of NATO’s southern flank."
On Wednesday, the Sputnik Turkey news agency reported that Ankara had deployed S-400 air defence systems to the Black Sea province of Samsun. The Turkish authorities have not made any official statements on this yet.
A State Department spokesperson revealed on Thursday that the United States was aware of these reports and is deeply concerned, adding that the S-400 transaction puts Turkey at risk for potential sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Since 2018, the United States has introduced a number of measures to pressure the Turkish government into cancelling the S-400 purchase, including removing Turkey from the F-35 aircraft supply chain despite the added costs to the program. The United States has proposed buying the S-400s from Ankara in a bid to break the deadlock. Washington has claimed the S-400 is incompatible with NATO security standards and might compromise the operations of the F-35 jets.
Turkey has repeatedly vowed to activate the missile systems, delivered by Russia last summer, despite the US threats of sanctions.
