Turkey's use of Russian S-400 'incompatible' with role as US, NATO ally, says State Department

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a direct line to US President Donald Trump and has gotten adept at using it, knowing he can always go over the head of lower-level US officials issuing warnings or expressing concerns over Turkey’s conduct, such as the Turkish military’s testing of the Russian S-400 missile defense system last week.

This way of doing business could change, however, if Trump’s Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, is elected president on Nov. 3.

Ankara’s Trump firewall on S-400

Erdogan has counted on Trump as his firewall against those in Congress, the Pentagon and elsewhere who are impatient with Turkey over a range of issues. One of the most sensitive is Turkey’s acquisition of a Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile system. Turkey is a member of the NATO alliance and Congress didn’t take well to the purchase, imposing sanctions last year, but Trump has so far refused to implement them and shows no signs of doing so. Although the State Department warned of "potentially serious consequences" if Turkey operationalized the S-400, and added that the S-400 is "incompatible with Turkey's responsibilities as a NATO Ally and strategic partner of the United States," Erdogan is likely to be unmoved. Absent an ultimatum from Trump, and perhaps even if then, Erdogan is unlikely to back down on the S-400. The Turkish president may be hoarding chits for a give and take on Syria, perhaps, during a second Trump term or, more worrying for Ankara, a less sympatico Biden presidency.