Trump Says Obama Treated Erdogan Unfairly on Patriot Missile
Erdogan Says No Setback on Missile System Deliveries From Russia
(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was treated unfairly by the Obama administration when he sought to buy an American anti-aircraft missile system, and indicated he may reassess sanctions he’s threatened if Turkey goes ahead with a Russian purchase instead.
“They wouldn’t let him buy the missile he wanted to buy, which was the Patriot,” Trump told reporters on Saturday at the start of a meeting with Erdogan on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan. “You have to treat people fairly. And I don’t think he was treated fairly.”
Trump’s statement isn’t accurate. The U.S. has sought to sell Ankara the Patriot air-defense missile since at least 2013, but Erdogan has insisted it come with a transfer of technology so that Turkey can develop and build its own missiles. The Obama administration declined.
Turkey at first sought a Chinese missile system instead of the Patriot, but that deal also fell through over technology-transfer conditions. It’s doubtful the Russians have agreed to provide Turkey much technology behind the S-400, their most advanced air-defense system.
Trump said at a briefing later on Saturday that Erdogan has already paid for both the S-400 and “over 100” American F-35 fighters.
“And now he wants delivery,” Trump said. “He’s paid a tremendous amount of money upfront to Lockheed. And now they’re saying he’s using the S-400 system, which is incompatible with our system, and if you use the S-400 system, Russia and other people can gain access to the genius of the F-35.”
“So it’s a mess,” Trump said. “And honestly, it’s not really Erdogan’s fault.”
“Today’s Erdogan and Trump meeting was indisputably the best possible outcome for Turkish markets," said Orkun Godek, a strategist at Istanbul-based Deniz Invest. “I didn’t think Trump would go to this extent on this subject. The world has literally listened to Turkey’s arguments from Trump’s mouth.”
The U.S. has threatened to sanction Turkey if it proceeds with installing the S-400 system. U.S. penalties could hurt the Turkish economy and create severe strains between Washington and a crucial Middle East partner, which relies on it for arms.
Anxiety among investors over the S-400 delivery, which may come as soon as next month, has contributed to the weak performance of Turkish assets this year. The lira has been the worst emerging-market currency after Argentina’s peso. The benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 Index has lagged the MSCI Emerging Markets Index as discounts on Turkish stocks fail to entice buyers.
Trump didn’t say on Saturday whether he would proceed with sanctions. “It’s a complicated deal, we’re working on it,” he said. “We’ll see what we can do.”
The White House issued a statement after Trump’s meeting with Erdogan suggesting the U.S. president took a harder line than he indicated in his remarks to reporters.
“The president expressed concern about Turkey’s potential purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system, and encouraged Turkey to work with the United States on defense cooperation in a way that strengthens the NATO alliance,” the White House said.
Erdogan said earlier at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that there is no setback to the agreement on delivery of the S-400.
“I believe the eyes have turned to the delivery process and there is no disruption on our agreement on that front,’’ Erdogan said. “For us the priority is to move it forward with joint production and technology transfer.’’
Erdogan said later at a briefing that Trump clarified the subject of possible sanctions against Turkey. “We all have heard from him that such a thing won’t happen,’’ the Turkish leader said.
Washington argues that integrating the Russian system into NATO’s second-largest army could help Moscow gather critical intelligence on the stealth capabilities of the next generation F-35 fighter planes, which Turkish manufacturers help build. Erdogan dismissed the U.S. argument and said Turkish military experts were good at deciding what to purchase.
To contact the reporters on this story: Cagan Koc in Istanbul at ckoc2@bloomberg.net;Margaret Talev in Washington at mtalev@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rosalind Mathieson at rmathieson3@bloomberg.net, Alex Wayne
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