German arms exports to Ankara continue despite escalating Greek-Turkish crisis

July 18, 2019
Written by E.Tsiliopoulos

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German arms exports to Ankara continue despite escalating Greek-Turkish crisis

Tensions have escalated between Turkey and two EU member states – Greece and Cyprus. But that hasn’t stopped another EU country, Germany, to continue exporting arms to Ankara, according to official government data.

In response to a request of leftist MP Sevim Dagdelen (Die Linke), the German economy ministry revealed that in the first four months of this year, Turkey has received armament supplies amounting €184.1 million from Germany.

Only last year, deliveries to Turkey made up almost one-third of all German arms exports (€770.8 million) with €242.8 million.

According to a government report, the weapons for Turkey are reported to be exclusively “maritime goods” meant for six class 214 submarines, which will be built in Turkey with significant involvement of the German arms concern ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS).

The German government had approved the delivery of the components already in 2009 and secured the export with a so-called Hermes guarantee amounting to €2.49 billion.

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