President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday called for Turkey to be included in European defense and security initiatives, as Ankara seeks access to a new European Union fund aimed at strengthening the continent’s military capabilities.
His remarks came a week before NATO leaders are due to meet in Ankara on July 7-8 and as European countries move to increase defense spending and weapons production in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine and concerns about a possible US pullback from NATO.
“Turkey’s indispensable contributions to European security are sometimes overlooked,” Erdoğan told parliamentary delegates from all 32 NATO member states in İstanbul, saying Turkey wanted “to participate in all defense and security initiatives” on the continent.
At issue is Turkey’s possible access to the EU’s 150 billion-euro ($176 billion) Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative, which is designed to support joint defense procurement and boost Europe’s defense industry.
Although Turkey is technically eligible to access the SAFE initiative, it requires approval from all 27 EU members — something Greece has threatened to block.
“We expect your support, lawmakers, for Turkey’s inclusion in the defense and security initiatives announced by the European Union,” Erdoğan told them.
The Turkish leader also urged NATO to remove all barriers blocking defense industry trade between members of the alliance.
“If we want to overcome the challenges we face, we need to remove obstacles to defense industry trade while ensuring a balanced and fair burden-sharing among allies,” he said.
Turkey has the second-largest army of the alliance after the United States and a burgeoning defense industry that has been going from strength to strength fueled by bilateral defense deals.
But its defense industry has been hit by US sanctions imposed over Ankara’s purchase of an S-400 Russian surface-to-air missile defense system, with Washington also kicking Turkey out of its F-35 program, in a move that soured relations between the two NATO allies.
Although Washington has expressed a desire to draw a line under the dispute, lifting the so-called CAATSA sanctions requires Congressional approval, with observers saying there was little chance it would be resolved by the time of the summit.
But US President Donald Trump has pledged to give Erdoğan something that would make him “very happy” when he flies to Turkey for the NATO gathering along with a host of other world leaders.
Analysts said it was likely to be a delivery of several dozen US-made F110 engines Turkey needs for its fifth-generation KAAN fighter jets that are under development, the delivery of which has been blocked since the imposition of the CAATSA sanctions.
© Agence France-Presse