Turkey hardly receives any more German arms exports
Turkish President Erdogan would like to cooperate more closely with Germany again in the field of armaments. Among other things, Turkey is eyeing 40 fighter jets, which Germany is helping to build. The German government, on the other hand, is mainly approving communications equipment.
The German government has hardly approved any arms exports for NATO partner Turkey this year. By December 3, the traffic light gave the green light for 17 applications worth a total of 1.22 million euros. War weapons exports were no longer approved at all. This is according to an answer from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to a question from MP Sevim Dagdelen from the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance.
Until the failed military coup in 2016, the German government approved arms exports to Turkey on a large scale, including the delivery of components for six submarines, which was heavily criticized by Greece. After the attempted coup and the invasion of Syria by Turkish troops, exports were significantly reduced. In recent years, they have only been in the low double-digit or even single-digit million range. Now a new low has been reached.
Communication equipment and hunting weapons
According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, licenses were issued for cooperation projects or for NATO-related deliveries. In addition, the export of detection, decontamination and communication equipment as well as hunting weapons has been approved.
However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear during his visit to Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin in November that he would like to see stronger cooperation in the field of armaments. "Our NATO ally Germany must of course also take decisive steps when we talk about armaments, industry and exports, for example. This must be possible without hindrance," he said. Among other things, Turkey wants to buy 40 Eurofighter fighter jets, which are co-produced by Germany.
What about Saudi Arabia?
The German government has already provisionally rejected the delivery of Eurofighters to Saudi Arabia. However, it relaxed its strict export restrictions for the regional power with large energy reserves somewhat in July. So far this year, arms exports worth 13.26 million euros have been approved for Saudi Arabia, including 7.41 million euros for weapons of war.
Deliveries were also approved for other countries in the region such as Egypt (40.31 million euros), Qatar (15.06 million euros) and the United Arab Emirates (78.24 million euros). Dagdelen sharply criticizes this: "It is a moral revelation that the Ampel is supplying massive amounts of armaments to areas of war and tension in the Middle East instead of supporting a ceasefire in the Gaza war. The German government has nothing to do with a restrictive arms export policy."
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Despite Turkey's interest in increasing arms cooperation with Germany, particularly for the acquisition of 40 Eurofighter fighter jets, German exports have significantly decreased in recent years. Contrastingly, Germany has approved limited arms exports to Saudi Arabia this year, including weapons of war totalling 13.26 million euros.
Source: www.ntv.de
