US supports terrorist groups in Syria, biased against Turkey, Çavuşoğlu tells Pompeo

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu slammed his American counterpart during a recent video summit of NATO for holding anti-Turkey meetings with other EU leaders ahead of the summit and unjustly accusing Turkey of increasing tensions in the region, Daily Sabah reports.

In the video conference, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed Turkey was carrying out “provocative” activities in the Eastern Mediterranean region, Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh and Libya, as he called Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 missile system a “gift to Russia.” He also accused Turkey of undermining cohesion in the bloc.

In response to Pompeo’s remarks, Çavuşoğlu said Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 was not a choice but a necessity because of U.S.' refusal to sell the Patriot system to Ankara for 10 years.

He noted that NATO allies had also withdrawn their Patriot batteries at a time when Turkey needed them the most.

The purchase of the Russian system has been a sticking point between Ankara and Washington, as the U.S. has argued that the S-400 system would be incompatible with NATO systems and would expose its advanced fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets to possible Russian subterfuge.

Sensing that its protracted efforts to purchase Patriot missiles from its U.S. ally were not heading for success, Turkey signed a contract with Russia in April 2017 to acquire the Russian defense system.

In response to U.S. concerns, Turkey has emphasized that the S-400 would not be integrated into the NATO systems, and therefore had no chance of posing any threat to the alliance or its armaments. Turkey even proposed setting up a commission to clarify any technical issues. But the U.S. has, so far, not responded to this proposal.

The Turkish foreign minister continued by asking Pompeo why his country rejected the establishment of a trilateral technical commission supported by NATO, implying that Washington is not in favor of dialogue or finding a solution to the problem.

He also slammed the U.S. for failing to take an impartial stance regarding the Eastern Mediterranean tensions with Greece and the Cyprus issue.

“Rather than acting as an objective mediator, the U.S. chose the path of supporting Greece and Greek Cypriots’ maximalist claims,” Çavuşoğlu said, as he highlighted once again that Turkey is willing to carry out dialogue on the issue without any preconditions but Greece has been refusing to cooperate.

He also noted that Greek’s uncooperative stance has also been affecting the NATO-led technical talks.