Iran Press/Asia: Within the purchase contract signed between Turkey and Russia, the first shipment of S-400 arrived at Murted Air Base, formerly called the Akinci Air Base, located in the northeastern suburb of Ankara, the ministry said in a written statement.
Delivery of other components of the Russian S-400 defense system will continue in the coming days, the Turkish Defence Industry Directorate said.
In December 2017, Ankara and Moscow signed a 2.5-billion-US-dollar agreement for two batteries of the S-400 system, Russia's most advanced long-range anti-aircraft missile system. Turkey is the first NATO member country to acquire the system, CGTN reported.
This is while, the US State Department has said that Turkish officials are fully aware of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, a law passed by Congress in 2017 that mandates sanctions for any "significant" purchases of weapons from Russia.
Washington has also threatened to remove Turkey from its F-35 fighter jet program, giving Ankara until July 31 to cancel the S-400 purchase or have its pilots kicked off the training course and expelled from the US But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after meeting US counterpart Donald Trump last month that he was confident Ankara would not face sanctions for buying the Russian missile system.
Erdogan told Trump during their meeting on the margins of the G-20 meeting in Japan that former president Barack Obama did not allow Ankara to buy Patriot missiles – an equivalent of the S-400s. Trump sounded convinced and said, "You can't do business that way. It's not good."
The Turkish air force changed the name of the base in Ankara from Akinci to Murted after it was the center of a 2016 failed coup attempt.
213/
Read more:
Turkey's Erdogan confirms buying Russia's S400 missiles
Turkey & Russia to co-produce S-500 missiles
