Will arms exports to Turkey affect gov’t elections across Europe?

Ahmed Sami Abdel-Fattah

Differences have been escalating between the European Union and Turkey regarding the latter’s unlawful exploration of gas in the eastern Mediterranean, support to terrorist organizations and continuous human rights violations.

Recently, the Turkish president threatened that Eastern Mediterranean countries will not be able to export natural gas to Europe without Ankara’s approval.

Erdogan forgot, as he made his remarks, that his weapons are being imported from Western countries, putting countries such as Germany and Italy, for example, in a critical position, as the two countries are among the major arms exporters to Turkey.

The Turkish threat to Europe is exacerbated by Ankara’s support for extremist organizations and its attempt to cut off energy supplies to Europe.

On the other hand, countries in Africa are attempting to seek an alternative Middle Eastern source for gas to replace Russian gas, which may contribute to reducing Moscow’s influence over Europe in some thorny issues.

Germany sent €250.4 million ($277 million) worth of weapons to Turkey in the first eight months of 2019, according to information cited by German press agency dpa.

Last year, Turkey was the No. 1 importer of German weapons by far, with contracts amounting to €242.8 million.

This confirms that Western countries, especially Germany, have the ability to exert political pressure on Turkey by stopping the sales of weapons that make up the strength of the Turkish armed forces, which will push the classification of the Turkish army and its military capabilities to decline.

Sputnik also published a report in November 2017 confirming that a Turkish attack helicopter was manufactured after Turkey signed an agreement with Italy in 2009, according to which Rome provided the Turkish side with helicopter technology.

Another report published by Deutsche Welle last November indicated that Turkey imports 15% of its weapons from France, as well as 17% from Spain, knowing that both countries stopped arms sales to Turkey against the backdrop of the recent aggression in northern Syria.

Another report pointed out that Ankara’s arms imports amounted to 685 million dollars in 2018 only despite the severe economic crisis the country is going through as a result of the devaluation of its local currency at the present time.

Recently, Turkey tried to diversify its weapons sources in order to reduce European pressure on it, so it resorted to Russia two years ago to import the S-400 air defense system, which Moscow says is one of the best systems in the world.

Ankara thought it could own the S-400 system in addition to the U.S. next-generation F-35 jet, however, the United States decided to impose military sanctions over Ankara, therefore excluded it from the F-35 production program.