Turkey and the UK concluded a deal worth 8 billion pounds (9.16 billion euros) on Monday for Ankara’s purchase of 20 Eurofighter Typhoon fighters, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed during his visit to the Turkish capital.
The British premier travelled to Ankara accompanied by senior defence ministry officials, where he was received by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Presidential Complex, following an initial welcoming ceremony at a military base where his plane touched down. The deal to sell Eurofighter Typhoon fighters to Türkiye was the focus of the talks between the two leaders.
After a private meeting and working dinner with their respective delegations at the presidential palace, Erdoğan and Starmer held a joint press conference. “Our trade and defence relations have been at the centre of today’s talks,” said the Turkish president. “As you know, the UK is one of our biggest trade and investment partners. We are determined to raise our trade volume to $30 billion initially, and then to $40 billion. We are determined to further strengthen our economic relations,” Erdoğan added, Turkish daily Hürriyet reported.
For his part, Starmer stressed that a new, modern Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will allow the two countries to act jointly on security, counter-terrorism, migration and energy, among other areas. “We are announcing a strategic partnership, the first bilateral framework for cooperation between the UK and Turkey,” he said, confirming that London will supply Turkey with 20 Eurofighter Typhoon fighters, with the possibility of expanding the purchase in the future. “This will strengthen security within NATO and enhance bilateral cooperation in the defence industry,” he added.
Turkey and the UK: a strong commercial and strategic partnership
The agreement follows a preliminary memorandum signed last July between Ankara and London that was endorsed by the Eurofighter consortium countries: the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, represented by Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo. Germany, which had initially blocked the sale, finally withdrew its opposition in July, paving the way for the sale of the fighter aircraft to Türkiye.
The UK is one of Turkey’s main partners, and the two countries have had an established strategic relationship since 2007, when the Turkey-UK Strategic Partnership Document came into force, subsequently renewed in 2010. In addition, the two nations are in the process of updating their FTA, the first rounds of negotiations for which were successful and will resume later this year. UK-Turkey trade is currently worth more than £27 billion (around 31 billion euros), making Ankara one of London’s most important trading partners.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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