ANKARA/Berlin, May 10, (WNM staff) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is apparently giving in to the dispute between the USA and Turkey over the supply of Russian anti-aircraft missiles. The German "Bild" newspaper quoted a high-ranking diplomat from Ankara as saying that "no delivery of the S-400 will take place because of the sanctions threatened by Washington". "In the current Lira crisis this would be the economic downfall of Turkey," it continued.

The report was quoted by German Reuters and AFP, but the newswires did not add any additional confirmation of the news. Russian newsagency TASS has not delivered any comment on the news by Saturday noon CET.

The Turkish Government refuted the Bild-report, as Turkish Newspapers Daily Sabah and Hürriyet report. Bild's foreign policy editor Julian Röpcke on Friday tweeted a "scoop," saying, "Diplomatic sources tell BILD, Erdogan will not buy the S-400 from Russia." The German journalist added a link to Bild's report titled "Erdoğan makes a surprising missile back-out."

Responding to Röpcke, Altun told him that their sources "are mistaken." "Dear Julian, your sources are mistaken. Take it from me: The S-400 procurement is a done deal," the Turkish official wrote on Twitter.

Turkey's plans to buy the air defence system have been causing tensions within NATO for some time, the paper and German AFP are writing. The US and other member states fear that Russia could obtain information on NATO aircraft via the S-400 system. In protest, Washington has put the joint F-35 fighter jet programme with Turkey on hold and threatened with further economic sanctions. Turkey had so far held on to the arms trade despite all criticism.