defense
The federal government hardly approves any arms exports to Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (l) made it clear during his visit to Chancellor Olaf Scholz that he would like to see stronger cooperation in the armaments sector again. photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
Turkish President Erdogan wants to cooperate more closely with Germany in the armaments sector. But the federal government is on the brakes, even though it is a NATO partner.
Until the failed military coup in Turkey in 2016, the federal government had approved large-scale arms exports to the country, including the delivery of components for six submarines, which was heavily criticized by Greece. After the attempted coup and the invasion of Turkish troops in Syria, exports were significantly reduced and in recent years have only been in the low double-digit or even single-digit million range.
Communication equipment and hunting weapons
Now a new low has been reached. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, approvals were granted for cooperation projects or for NATO-related deliveries. In addition, the export of detection and decontamination and communication equipment as well as hunting weapons has been approved.
During his visit to Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin in November, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear that he would like to see stronger cooperation in the armaments sector again. “Our NATO ally Germany must of course also take decisive steps when we talk about, for example, military equipment, industry and exports. This must be possible without hindrance,” he said. Among other things, Turkey wants to buy 40 Eurofighter fighter jets, which Germany is co-producing.
Armament exports for around 13 million euros for Saudi Arabia
The federal government has already temporarily rejected a delivery of Eurofighters to Saudi Arabia. However, it slightly relaxed its strict export restrictions for the regional power with large energy reserves in July. So far this year, arms exports worth 13.26 million euros have been approved to Saudi Arabia, of which 7.41 million were for war weapons.
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 traffic light is delivering massive amounts of military equipment to war and tension areas in the Middle East instead of supporting a ceasefire in the Gaza war. The federal government has nothing to do with a restrictive arms export policy.”