How US Sanctions On Turkey Put Pakistan In A Fix And End Up Benefiting China? March 13, 2021 Turkey’s inability to sell its combat helicopters to Pakistan due to US sanctions has forced the South Asian nation to turn to China, Washington’s biggest global rival. It all began with Turkey’s decision to go ahead with the purchase of S-400 air defense systems from Russia despite repeated warnings from the US. Washington finally imposed sanctions on Ankara and scrapped the deal for the fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighters. This US also put curbs on Turkey’s other military exports, including combat helicopters.