Stoltenberg: No other NATO member raised the exclusion of Turkey due to S-400


Turkey would remain a key member of the alliance despite its decision to purchase the Russian S-400 missile-defense system, while acknowledging that the move created a “difficult situation”, Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said on Wednesday.

Stoltenberg also said that Turkey can still be included in NATO’s integrated air and missile defense network even if the S-400 is excluded from it.

“Turkey is an important NATO member,” Stoltenberg said at the Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colorado. “As long as that issue’s not solved, we need to minimize the negative consequences.”

“Turkey’s contribution to NATO runs much deeper and much broader than the F-35. That is important,” said Stoltenberg, adding the international coalition in Syria could have defeated Daesh “because of the contributions of Turkey”.

“We used the bases, infrastructure and Turkey played a key part in that fight,” he said, adding Turkish troops are contributing to different missions and operations, citing Kosovo and Afghanistan.

He also said that no other NATO member has raised the exclusion of Turkey from the F-35 program “because we all see that we are dependent on each other”.

Stoltenberg reiterated that the S-400 could not become part of NATO’s shared missile defense but Turkey has aircraft and radars that would remain part of the system.