Turkish missile purchase looms large over Trump-Erdogan meeting

Turkey's purchase of an advanced Russian missile system will top the agenda for Recep Tayyip Erdogan's meeting with Donald Trump on Wednesday, a "critical" meeting that's set to shape the future of ties with the US, the Turkish president's top aide said.

Turkey's relationship with its key NATO ally has been strained by a series of rows, from disagreements over the Turkish offensive in Syria to Ankara's decision to purchase the Russian-made S-400 air defense system.

Erdogan sees this week's encounter at the White House as crucial to reconcile those differences, his communications director Fahrettin Altun said.

But obstacles to improved relations remain. Erdogan insists the Russian system will be activated soon, defying calls from Washington to hold off. Parts for the system were delivered to Turkey in August.

In Syria, where Americans have long been allied with Kurdish forces that Turkey regards as terrorists, Trump's decision to pull out US troops led to an invasion by Turkish forces. The military campaign against the Kurds touched off an international outcry and led to demands by members of both parties in Congress for sanctions against the Erdogan government.

Even before the Syria crisis, US lawmakers were pushing the administration to impose sanctions on Ankara for buying the Russian military hardware, citing risks to the American F-35 fighter jet. Turkey was suspended from the joint program that produces the warplane because of the purchase.

"We have repeatedly expressed our stance" on the S-400s, Altun said, referring to Erdogan's long-held view that the Russian missiles are absolutely necessary for Turkey's national security.

"Geopolitics require Turkey to have multiple air and missile defense systems. When we expressed our desire to buy the Patriots, the US set a condition for us to not purchase the S-400s," Altun said, referring to the Patriot missiles manufactured by Raytheon Co.

Erdogan said late last week that he was prepared to buy Patriots if the terms were right.

Parts of the S-400 air defence system are unloaded from a Russian plane at Murted military airport near Ankara, Turkey.

Altun's remarks highlight the difficulty of reconciling Turkey's position on air defense with that of Washington, a rift that has threatened to derail the decadeslong alliance between the two countries.

"I'm confident Erdogan and Trump will have an honest discussion on this. I believe the two leaders can find a solution that's acceptable and can be implemented," he added.

The meeting will take place after Turkey deported citizens of the United States and Denmark who fought for the Islamic State, with plans underway to send more foreign fighters back to their home countries.

The move followed comments from the Turkish interior minister last week, who said Turkey was not a "hotel" for IS fighters and criticised Western nations for their reluctance to take back citizens who had joined the ranks of the extremist militant group which sought to establish a "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said last week that about 1200 foreign IS fighters were in Turkish prisons and 287 members, including women and children, were recaptured during Turkey's offensive in Syria in October.

Several European countries, including Britain, have stripped IS fighters of their citizenship to prevent their return.

Some foreign nationals have already been deported. A mixture of about 20 German, French and Irish nationals captured in Syria were due to be deported later this week.