National Herald – With the United States saying its relations with Greece are better than ever, President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed a joint working group over Ankara’s plans to buy the Russian S-400 missile defense system.
Turkey also wants to purchase US-made F-35 fighter jets that, with the missile defenses from Russia, could give the country a decisive military edge over Greece as tensions remain high between the NATO allies with the defense alliance saying it wants no part of it.
With the US having a military presence on a Turkish base, as well as the Souda Naval Base on Crete and wanting to expand in Greece, Trump and Erdogan were talking about the missile system, the Turkish President’s office said.
“Our Honorable President brought up the proposal to establish a working group regarding the procurement of the S-400 defense system from the Russian Federation,” it said.
The US is concerned Russia could compromise the F-35 if Turkey has both the fighter jets and the S-400 but Trump is keen on selling American armaments despite vociferous opposition from Greek-American and Diaspora groups.
