German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has said that Berlin will not issue any new arms export permits to Turkey in light of its Northern Syrian offensive. Arms exported under existing permits will presumably remain untouched.
Germany sold more than 240 million euros worth of arms to Turkey in 2018, accounting for almost a third of the country’s weapons exports.
Ankara, a NATO partner of Germany, is the number one buyer of German arms.
France will cease all weapons sales to Turkey that could be used in Ankara’s crackdown on Kurdish militias in Syria, the French Foreign and Defense ministries have said. Berlin had issued a similar statement shortly before Paris’.
The suspension of weapons sales comes as EU ministers prepare to meet in Luxembourg next week to plan a response to Turkey’s ‘Operation Peace Spring’ offensive.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian has called on Erdogan to halt the military operation, in a joint statement with his Belgian, Estonian, German, Polish, and British counterparts.
The territorial integrity of Syria must be fully restored and all foreign forces should withdraw, including Russia if Damascus decides it doesn’t need Moscow’s help anymore, according to President Vladimir Putin.
Unlike the Russian military, which arrived in the country at an invitation of the government in Damascus, US forces have been in Syria illegally since 2016.
The Syrian government has repeatedly blasted the American military presence as a violation of its sovereignty.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2019.
A little too late now isn’t it? The reason was to use the German en French weapons to destroy Syria, but Turkey decided otherwise and pulled back out of the NATO scheme designed to blame the deaths on Ankara later?
Imagine the dirty politics being evolved?