Turkiye must be included in all of Europe’s defense structures and defense trade restrictions between Nato members must be removed, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday ahead of a key Nato summit.
His remarks come as Europe seeks to revamp its defenses in light of the threat from Russia and the risk of a US pullback from Nato, as the military alliance gears up for a key summit in the Turkish capital Ankara on July 7-8.
“Turkiye’s indispensable contributions to European security are sometimes overlooked,” Erdogan told parliamentary delegates from all 32 Nato member states in Istanbul, saying Turkiye wanted “to participate in all defense and security initiatives” on the continent.
At issue is Turkiye’s access to the European Union’s 150-billion-euro Security Action for Europe (Safe) initiative, a scheme key to strengthening European defense capabilities.
Although Turkiye 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 Turkiye’s inclusion in the defense and security initiatives announced by the European Union,” Erdogan 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.
Turkiye has the second-biggest army of the alliance after the United States and a burgeoning defense industry which 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 booting Turkiye out of its F-35 program, in a move that has 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 Erdogan something that would make him “very happy” when he flies to Turkiye for the Nato gathering alongside a host of other world leaders.
Analysts said it was likely to be a delivery of several dozen US-made F110 engines Turkiye needs for its fifth-generation Kaan fighter jets that are under development, delivery of which has been blocked since the imposition of the Caatsa sanctions.
