International Live: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that it planned to start using the Russian S-400 missile defence system a bone of contention with the United States in April 2020.

“In the coming spring, God willing in April 2020, we will be able to start using this system,” he told a gathering of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara. Washington has reacted to Turkey’s purchase of the S-400, which was delivered this month, by kicking the country off its F-35 fighter jet programme.

Turkey and the US have also held talks this week on establishing a buffer zone in northern Syria to prevent clashes between Turkish and Kurdish forces. Ankara sees the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia as a “terrorist” off-shoot of Kurdish insurgents in Turkey, but the YPG has been a key ally for the US in its fight against the Islamic State extremist group.

Dhaka 26 July (campuslive24.com)//MIH