US concerns over Turkey’s S-400 purchase ‘political'

The United States' concerns over Ankara's purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile defense system are "political", a top Turkish defense official said Thursday, Anadolu Agency reoports.

Celal Sami Tufekci, Vice President of Turkey’s Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, recalled the U.S. proposal for the sale of Patriot air and missile defense systems valued at $3.5 billion to Turkey made in early January of this year.

"Our work on the S-400 goes back," before this proposal, Tufekci told Anadolu Agency following a think tank panel in Washington.

"We talked not only with Russia and the U.S. but also with many European countries. I believe that the United States expresses its concerns in terms of politics," he said. "I think they [the concerns] are the arguments that have been generated against Turkey."