Turkey not to buy US arms anymore: Erdoğan

TEHRAN (defapress) – President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Oct. 12 that if the US does not accept Turkey the way it is "then we do not need you."

News ID: 66334

Date: 12 October 2017 - 19:32

"We are not a tribal state. We are the state of the Republic of Turkey and you will accept it. If you don’t, then sorry but we do not need you,” Erdoğan said, amid the ongoing diplomatic crisis over visas between Ankara and Washington, Hurriyet Daily reported.

He once again criticized the US’s hesitation to sell arms to Turkey, while instead "providing arms to the terrorist organization for free.”

Erdoğan also repeated his claim that it was US Ambassador to Ankara John Bass who prompted the current visa suspension crisis.

"Let me be very clear, the person who caused this is the ambassador here. It is unacceptable that the US has sacrificed a strategic partner like Turkey to a presumptuous ambassador," he said.

"If an ambassador in Ankara is governing the United States, it is a shame,” he added.

Erdoğan also said Ankara will stand behind its decision to mutually suspend visa services with Washington "if the US secretary of state and the president defend the ambassador’s step.”

The US will work to ensure that military relations with Turkey will be unaffected by an ongoing diplomatic row, the country's Defense Secretary James Mattis said Wednesday.

"It’s a NATO ally that we will work hard to stay aligned with against our common enemy. And we are doing good work together, military to military," Mattis told reporters en route to Central Command in Tampa, Florida.