Ankara will begin the deployment of the Russian-made S-400 air defense systems NATO code: SA-21 Growler) in October 2019, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Thursday. "The deployment of these systems will begin in October 2019. We are currently recruiting personnel to maintain these complexes. These people will go to Russia in early 2019 to receive necessary training," Akar said, as cited by the Milliyet daily. However, the Turkish defense minister did not specify areas where the S-400 systems would be deployed, only saying that work was underway.

S-400 Triumf air defense system (Picture source: Russian MoD)

"We are not a country that only buys now, we are a state that creates knowledge and has production opportunities. The agreements we signed contain such provisions and since there are such provisions in the S-400 agreement, we are purchasing these systems," Akar said. A military diplomat told Tass earlier that Russia’s defense companies had been tasked to complete the production of the S-400 systems for Ankara in May 2019.

Turkey has become the second foreign buyer of the S-400 Triumf systems after China. An official announcement about the signing of a contract on the delivery of the S-400 systems was made in September 2017. Initial plans said that the systems would be handed over to Turkey in early 2020 but Ankara requested that the delivery be sped up.