Washington—Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Representative Michael McCaul, the Committee’s Ranking Member, issued the following statement following their meeting with Mevlüt Çavusoglu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey:

“We had a frank meeting with Foreign Minister Çavusoglu, underscoring the importance of the decades-long U.S.-Turkey relationship. We also made clear our bipartisan opposition to Turkey’s plan to acquire the Russian-made S-400 missile system, which could jeopardize Turkey’s participation in the Trans Atlantic alliance. We reminded the Foreign Minister that the United States has made Turkey an attractive offer which we support to instead buy Patriot missiles, which are interoperable with NATO, and that there is no middle ground where Turkey chooses significant defense cooperation with both Russia and the United States. We cautioned the Foreign Minister that his government must choose to demonstrate its continued commitment to the NATO alliance, because deepening ties with Moscow will risk sanctions and Turkey’s involvement in the F-35 program.”

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