ANKARA, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Turkey is looking for alternative sources of defense equipment as the delivery of U.S. weapons delays, Turkish Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
"Unfortunately, the U.S. has delayed giving us defense equipment we urgently need to fight terrorism because of 'internal issues,'" an official Foreign Ministry booklet written to inform parliament said, as quoted by the Hurriyet Daily News.
For this reason, Turkey needs to solve the shortage by other means, and is looking to expand national production, said the ministry.
The U.S., which has been Turkey's top supplier of defense equipment for many years, approved in September a bill that blocked the government from selling weapons to security forces associated with Turkish President Erdogan, amid a dispute over the brawl between Turkish bodyguards and local protestors in Washington earlier this year.
In recent years, Turkey accelerated its step to develop domestic defense industry in order to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers.
Meanwhile, Turkey has been seeking multi-source of defense weapons, including the purchase of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missiles this year.
