Speaking at the session of Washington-based Heritage Foundation think tank, which titled, "NATO's importance in the 21st Century," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg answered the question of reporters regarding Turkiye's purchase Russian S-400 defense missile.

"Decisions on the acquisition of military capabilities is a national decision, but what is important for NATO is of course interoperability, that the different systems can work together," said Stoltenberg during the session.

"I have discussed this many times in Ankara, also discussed it in Washington," said Stoltenberg added that he hopes that it's possible to find a solution because what they see now is a challenge for all of NATO.

There is this disagreement on the issue of S-400, the Russian air defense system that Turkiye has decided to buy, and also the decision and actually Turkiye being part of the F-35 program. And I also welcome the fact that there is a direct bilateral dialogue between Turkiye and the United States on this issue, and also the fact that NATO has been a kind of platform for this dialogue," he added.

Adding that Turkiye is a very important ally for NATO for many reasons, Stoltenberg said, "Turkiye is also important when it comes to dealing with the migrant and refugee crisis.  They host millions of refugees.  And they are important to implement the agreement between EU and Turkiye on managing the flow of migrants over the Aegean Sea.  Turkey is also the Ally which has suffered, without a comparison, most terrorist attacks, and it's important that we understand that this is something which really is appalling, to see the high number of terrorist attacks in Turkiye. And they also suffered a failed coup attempt.

ILKHA