Washington D.C.—Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX), Lead Republican of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Representative Eliot L. Engel (D-NY), Chairman of the Committee, issued the following statement following their meeting with Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey.

Lead Republican McCaul and Chairman Engel: “We had a frank meeting with Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu, 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.”

###