After years of low-volume arms exports to Turkey, the German government is again authorizing large-scale shipments to its fellow NATO member.
As of October 13, 69 licences worth €103 million have been issued so far this year, including arms worth €840,000, the Economy Ministry said in response to a parliamentary question from a lawmaker of the populist BSW party.
This means that the value of exports authorized for Turkey has exceeded €100 million for the first time since 2011.
Exports totalling €101.1 million are accounted for by exports for joint projects with other countries.
However, a number of exports have not yet been included in the statistics, according to Economy Minister Robert Habeck.
In a letter to lawmakers in September, Habeck said the Federal Security Council had authorized the companies Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems and Atlas Elektronik to export 28 Seahake torpedoes, including accessories and spare parts, for €156 million.
The committee, which is chaired by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, also gave the green light for the delivery of 101 missiles from German manufacturer MBDA, the value of which was not disclosed.
On Saturday afternoon, Scholz was due to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Istanbul for talks also expected to cover defence exports.
During his visit to Berlin a year ago, Erdoğan made it clear that he would like to see stronger renewed cooperation in the defence sector.
Among other things, Turkey wants to buy 40 Eurofighter fighter jets, which are co-produced by Germany. The German government has yet to approve this, but at Thursday’s EU summit in Brussels, Scholz said he was in favour of the UK negotiating such a deal with Turkey.
Until the failed military coup in Turkey in 2016, the German government had approved large-scale arms exports to the country, including the delivery of components for six submarines, which was heavily criticized by Greece.
Following the attempted coup and the invasion of northern Syria by Turkish troops, export licences were significantly reduced in recent years to a low double-digit or even single-digit million-euro range.
