Germany to block Erdogan’s plan to buy fighter jets
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is unlikely to agree to a fresh request by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to buy Eurofighter Typhoon jets, as tensions simmer over a number of issues including Turkey’s condemnation of Israel, Bloomberg reported.
Erdogan will probably ask Scholz at a meeting in Berlin on Friday to lift a block on the sale of the fighter planes he needs to refresh an aging airforce, according to Turkish officials familiar with the matter. Germany produces the Eurofighter in a consortium with three other countries.
The chancellor is not expected to consent, said German officials, citing diplomatic strains between US-led NATO allies and Turkey over the country’s acquisition of air defenses from Russia, its military drive against Kurdish forces in Syria, and delay in ratifying Sweden’s membership of NATO.
Erdogan’s declaration of Israel as a “terrorist state,” while calling Hamas elected rulers and defenders of the Gaza Strip, has added to the list of concerns, they said. Unlike the US and the European Union, Turkey does not see Hamas as a terrorist organization.
“This is a visit by a difficult partner with whom we are discussing a whole range of dossiers,” German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit told reporters on Wednesday. He added Scholz would make clear Germany’s firm position that Israel has a right to defend itself following the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas.
Turkey’s government declined to comment.