Turkey likely to ink China missile defense deal, risks ties with U.S.

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey is likely to sign a $3.4 billion missile defense deal with a Chinese firm under U.S. sanctions, a senior official said on Thursday, October 3 a move that could strain relations with Washington, Reuters said.

Turkey is scrambling to bolster its air defenses because it feels its border is at risk of attacks spilling over from the war in neighboring Syria.

Murad Bayar, Undersecretary of Defence Industries at the Defence Ministry, told reporters in Ankara that Turkey could finalize the deal with China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp (CPMIEC) within six months.

Turkey's Defence Ministry said last week it had chosen CPMIEC's FD-2000 missile defence system over more expensive rival systems from Russian, U.S. and European firms. Turkish leaders have since stressed the deal was not final.

The United States has expressed "serious concerns" over North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member Turkey cooperating with CPMIEC, under sanctions for violations of the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act.

But Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey, which shares a 900-km (560-mile) border with Syria and has NATO's second largest deployable military force, urgently needed to step up its air defenses.

"With the latest crisis in Syria and the crises in the Middle East, we have realized ... that however strong our armed forces are in terms of conventional weapons, they are not at the desired level to counter missile and related threats," he said in an interview on local television late on Wednesday.

Turkey has seen Syria's conflict frequently spill across its frontier and has responded in kind when mortars and shells fired from Syria have hit its soil.

The government is also concerned about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons arsenal, particularly after a sarin nerve gas attack on a Damascus suburb in August, and parliament is expected later on Thursday to extend a mandate authorizing sending troops into Syria if needed.

NATO sources have said Turkish collaboration with China on the system could raise questions of compatibility of weaponry and of security. For China, it would be a breakthrough in its bid to become a supplier of advanced weapons.

Bayar said Turkey was not sharing any information on NATO defence systems with China and that Turkey was not bound to comply with sanctions placed on CPMIEC as they were not drawn up by the United Nations.

"This is a short list and China is in first place. We are going to invite the Chinese, the offer is on the table and we are going to turn this offer into a contract," Bayar said.

"It is highly likely, a great probability, we will sign the contract with the firm we have chosen in first place."

He said if the deal went ahead most of the production would be carried out in Turkey.