Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced, in a press interview published today, that his country is ready to discuss the Russian S-400 missile file, which has fueled tension with the United States.

This prompted it to impose sanctions on its ally Ankara late last year.

Akar indicated - in an interview with the Turkish newspaper "Hurriyet" - that a number of European countries possessed weapons dating back to the Soviet era, after these countries were members of the Warsaw Pact.

In the interview, he said, "We are open to negotiating a model similar to that applied to the S-300s (S-300) missiles located on the island of Crete in Greece."

In the face of strong protests from Turkey at the time, Cyprus in 1999 changed its deployment of the "S-300" missiles that it had requested from Russia, and placed them on the island of Crete in agreement with Athens.

Greece later became the owner of these missiles, which have not been used since then;

Except during the maneuvers of 2013.

In response to a question reminding the "impractical" situation of the missiles in Crete, the Turkish minister said regarding the "S-400" missiles that Turkey is not obliged to "use them all the time," adding, "These systems are used pursuant to the threat situation. We will decide about that."

It is noteworthy that Ankara's purchase of these Russian missiles has led to strained relations in recent years with Washington, which says it does not comply with the defense systems of NATO, to which Turkey and the United States belong.

Last December, Washington banned granting any permits to export weapons to the Turkish government agency charged with purchasing military equipment, in a punitive step for Ankara for its decision to purchase S-400 missiles.

Before these sanctions, the United States suspended Turkey's participation in the program to manufacture the newest American warplane, "F-35" (F-35), saying that the "S-400" missiles could reveal its technological secrets.

"Unchanged" position

Last Friday, the Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, said that Washington's position on this issue "has not changed," calling on Turkey to "abandon the S-400 systems."

Some observers believe that Turkey's freezing of these Russian missiles could meet the US demands.

Since the election of Joe Biden as President of the United States, Ankara has said it wants to improve relations with Washington, and once again proposed the formation of a joint working group on the S-400 missile deal.

The Turkish minister said, "We said that these talks could be held under the umbrella of NATO, whose Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, also said that he views this issue in a positive way."

On the other hand, Washington has repeatedly refused this, and said that sanctions will continue until Turkey gives up possession of the Russian missile system.

And in a phone conversation last week, it was the first official contact between the two sides since Biden took office, Ibrahim Kalin, the Turkish presidential advisor, told US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan that the dispute needed to be resolved.

It is noteworthy that Turkey has concluded an agreement with Russia to supply it with the S-400 air defense system since April 2017.