Proposal from Cavit Çağlar, who mediated the jet crisis with Russia: 'If I were in charge, I would sell the S-400s'

Former State Minister Cavit Çağlar, who played a key role in the biggest diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Russia—acting as a mediator to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to reconcile following the downing of a Russian military jet by Turkish F-16s on the Syrian border in November 2015, with the support of his political friends in the former Soviet region—has made a striking proposal.

Speaking to Cansu Çamlıbel of T24, Cavit Çağlar argued that Turkey is a NATO member and that the S-400s should be sold. He stated that otherwise, it is impossible to acquire F-35s from the US.

Here is the relevant section from that interview…

As a politician who played a leading role in the biggest diplomatic crisis between Russia and Turkey, what do you think about the S-400s? Turkey paid for them and brought them in, but cannot use them. Because of this, it is exposed to various sanctions from the US. What do you think will happen with that?

That needs to be resolved. If I were in charge, I would sell the S-400s.

To whom?

There are customers, they are ready.

Azerbaijan?

No, come on, Pakistan would buy them, India would buy them.

Will they buy them directly from Turkey?

They would buy from us, why not?

Well, would Putin allow this?

You have to talk. If I were in charge, I would remove them from Turkey right now. Why aren't they giving us the F-16s? They aren't giving them because of the S-400s. We were going to buy a second and a third batch, or they were going to be manufactured here. You can't do it. You have to find a way out here. We have a very good dialogue with Russia. What needs to be done is to sit down and reach an agreement as soon as possible. We will say, "I am a NATO member, and according to NATO rules, I cannot use this against NATO. Thank you, we appreciate it. I cannot use this. I need to get rid of it." This can be understood.

If such a decision were made, would you want to take on a new role to convince Putin?

Not me, the state will do that. I don't have the power for these things. This is something that those who govern the state will do entirely. As a citizen, Cavit Çağlar, I am saying: let's get rid of this. If you do this, you will get the F-16s, and you will get the F-35s. We need to reach an understanding with America. America says, "My friend, I don't want this." We cannot leave NATO. We will see this. We will solve this issue through dialogue. Russia will excuse us on these matters. We need to make a turn on this issue. We are a NATO member, there is a reason for that. Since I am not going to leave NATO, we need to make a turn.

News Source: 12punto