No final decision on Turkish missile defence, China talks continue

A proposal evaluation process regarding Turkey's long-awaited, billion-dollar, long-range air and missile defense system has not been fully finalized, according to an official for Turkey's Defense Industries Undersecretariat.

Media reports have recently stated that Turkey will wait until April 24, which is the anniversary of the 1915 incidents to select a winner for the missile defense system. Rumors in political circles in Ankara said that no decision will be made over the missile defense system winner before the date since Turkey wants to first see France and the U.S.'s position on the 1915 incidents. An agreement may be made with China if the U.S. and French administrations take a "pro-Armenian" stance.

The Turkish Long-Range Missile Defense System Project is one of the defense industry's biggest projects in which Chinese, American and Italian-French companies are vying for contracts.

Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz said in a written answer to a parliamentary question regarding if the bid assessment had been completed that no new official bid was received in the tender, first of which was awarded to China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp. in 2013.