Iran Press/Middle East: Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar believes that Ankara should strengthen its air fleet and believes that the US should provide the fighter planes needed to support the Turkish army.
At the same time, the Turkish Defense Minister warns the US about finding alternatives to American fighter jets.
Arslan Bulut, columnist of Turkey's Yeni Ça? on recent tensions between Washington and Ankara, says: "To give a proper analysis of this issue, it is necessary to take the root of these differences of opinion. When Americans presented the project called the "Greater Middle East" in pursuit of their goals and their regional allies, especially the Zionists, it made concern all countries of the region because they thought that this project will include them one day."
Turkey, one of the main target countries in the project, could not be indifferent to this. At that time, serious disputes between Ankara and Washington became apparent. At some point, the two countries continued their cooperation, and the dispute continued in secret until Turkey asked the US to buy Patriot missile systems to strengthen its missile and air defense fleet.
The US opposition to the sale of Patriot missile systems to Turkey and subsequent events, especially the US position on Syria, led Turkey to close ranks with Russia to deepen the differences between the two sides. After purchasing the S-400 missile defense system from Russia, US officials again put in place more serious measures to prevent Turkey from modernizing its defense capabilities.
The dispute continued until today, and it was not expected to settle after Donald Trump's meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Arslan Bulut called Turkey's presence in Syria and Ankara's Washington cooperation to create a buffer zone in northern Syria wrong, saying: "The agreement with the US to create this region in northern Syria is actually the basis for increased activity of Kurdish armed groups in northern Syria. Such a situation also provides the conditions for the creation of an autonomous region in northern Syria."
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