Clash Report@clashreport
US Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barrack:
The question on S-400s… For those of you who don’t know, Türkiye, after the coup, bought a Russian defense system.
There was a variance in opinion—were we not willing to sell them Patriots, or could they not buy Patriots, but they bought an S-400 system.
At the time, Türkiye was also the second-largest NATO ally. This is huge. When you think of what that means and what Türkiye is doing to protect Europe, it’s incredible.
They wanted to contribute to the F-35 jet program and, as a matter of fact, were a partner in manufacturing fuselages. When they bought the S-400, Congress then imposed sanctions.
Sanctions… in my humble opinion… they don’t work. The sanctioned country becomes so smart, so ingenious, they figure out ways around them. They went off the F-35 system.
President Trump and President Erdogan… sat down.
Halkbank is now fine. F-16s — renegotiating again. The alliance… is being rebuilt.
I think you’re going to see this S-400 situation solved soon.
From my boss’s point of view, acceptance into an F-35 program is fine.
Greece has S-300s and F-35s. So, that the the Greece-Türkiye issue is you know, another historic issue.
I won't even attempt to get there because they'll they'll forbid me to ever go to Mykonos again.
