Turkey says will retaliate against any sanctions ahead of US vote

Turkeysaid on Wednesday it wouldretaliateagainstanyUSsanctionsover its purchase of Russian defence systems, adding that with Britain it had agreed to speed up a joint fighter jet programme to meet Turkish defence needs.

USlawmakers willvote and likely pass a defence bill later on Wednesday that calls forsanctionsagainstTurkeyover Ankara's decision to procure the S-400 defences.

Turkeyand the United States, NATO allies, have been at odds over the purchase.

Washingtonsaysthe S-400s pose a threat to its F-35 fighter jets and cannot be integrated into NATO defences. In response, it has suspendedTurkeyfrom the F-35 jet programme, where it was a manufacturer and buyer, and threatenedsanctions.

In an interview with Turkish broadcaster A Haber, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu saidanyUSsanctionswould harmUS-Turkish ties and repeated a threat of retaliation.

"USlawmakers must understand they will get nowhere with impositions. If the United States approaches us positively, we will also react positively. But, if they take negative towards us, then we willretaliatethese," Cavusoglu said.

Ties between Ankara and Washington have been strained over a host of issuesin recent years.Turkeyhas been engaged with theUSsupport for the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which Cavusoglu called the "financing of terrorism" on Wednesday.

He added thatTurkeywas open to alternatives to buying the F-35 jets, including from Russia. He said President Tayyip Erdogan and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had discussed speeding up work on the TF-X joint fighter jet project to meetTurkey's defence needs.

"We bought the S-400s because the most suitable offer for air defence systems came from Russia. Until we produce it ourselves, the alternative to the F-35 could be the Russian market, but we are open to other alternatives too," Cavusoglu said.

Turkeyand Britain agreed a 100 million pound ($133 million) deal in 2017 to develop Turkish fighter jets, andTurkey's Kale Group said it was setting up a joint venture with Rolls-Royce to work on the project. In March Rolls-Royce said it had scaled back efforts to join the programme.

A Turkish source said the disagreement with Rolls-Royce stemmed from licensing issues, which are "critical and indispensable" forTurkey. But the source said talks had been revived and addedTurkeyexpected the project to advance after a solution was reached.