Erdogan Says Turkey Won't Hesitate on S-400 Purchases, Polling Support Slips

LOCAL NEWS

• Erdogan says Turkey has no hesitation in purchasing a second batch of S-400 missiles from Russia (Aug 29).
  • "we have already taken plenty of steps in the area of defense with Russia, including the S-400s".Notes this was discussed in a recent call with Putin and will be on the agenda of the next meeting.
  • This will likely inflame tensions with the US if substantial progress towards the purchase is made
• Germany's Foreign Min Maas visited Turkey yesterday in which Turkey-EU relation were discussed alongside developments in Afghanistan.
  • Maas said Turkey has no more room for migrants with the population already under strain from both Syrian & Afghan migrants.
  • Erdogan called on the EU to be sensitive towards migrant sharing. Defense Min Akar slammed Greece's pushback against migrants, highlighting its naval pushback
• Erdogan approval ratings drop sharply by 10.1% in August to 38% in Metropoll survey. 51.5% of the 1,717 participants said they disapproved of Erdogan's manner of conducting his duties. 76.5% of AKP voters Approved of him, 54.5% of MHP supporters approved, while 90.5% of CHP & 91.6% of IYI supporters disapproved.
  • Disapproval seems to have come from the cumulative effect of wildfires, flooding and Afghan migrant crisis causing the drop in support
• Iranian journalists warn Taliban members are among the Afghan refugees entering Turkey, saying Iranian authorities were working with traffickers and smugglers
• France moves Turkey to its travel red list, with non-vaccinated travellers needing to self-isolate on arrival but double vaccinated are exempt from the policy. Comes as Turkey registers 17,332 new cases & 255 deaths on Sunday