Turkey has confirmed it will use Russia's S400 missile defense system despite US threats of sanctions, days after talks between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his US counterpart Donald Trump.
The purchase and delivery of the Russian missile system to Ankara in July sparked a major tension in relations between the United States and Turkey, members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The head of the government defense industry Ismail Demir told CNN Turk, "private" is not a feasible policy to say (we) will not use a system we bought because we need it and paid for this amount of money to satisfy someone.
"We will do our part and the system will be usable (but) how to use it will be the subject of a decision to be made later," Demir said.
After talks at the White House, Erdogan and Trump held a joint press conference last Wednesday, during which the latter said Ankara's purchase of the S400 "is a very serious challenge for us, and we talk about it permanently."
A senior aide to Erdogan said on Friday that officials from the two countries had begun working on a joint mechanism aimed at assessing the impact of the S-400 system on US F-35s.
Washington has repeatedly said it will not sell its fighter jets to countries operating the S400, fearing information about the capabilities of the planes could reach Moscow.