Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reaffirmed his determination to install a Russian S-400 missile system on Turkish soil, saying he could even move delivery forward despite ever louder warnings from Washington of the likely damage the move would do to Turkey’s status within the NATO alliance.
Speaking to a handful of his favorite media representatives en route home from Moscow, where he met with his new ally Russian President Vladimir Putin, Erdogan seemed to almost revel in the controversy. “Wherever we go, they ask us ‘Are you buying [the S-400s] or not?’ We respond that ‘This is our finalized deal, everything is in order.’ Delivery of the S-400 is scheduled for July.” He went further, saying, "Delivery may be moved forward.”