May announces defence deal with Turkey
ANKARA: UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced a defence deal between BAE Systems Plc and Turkish Aerospace Industries to develop Turkey’s first homebuilt fighter jet, calling it a step to expand trade with the nation.
“It marks the start of a new and deeper trading relationship with Turkey, and will potentially secure British and Turkish jobs and prosperity for decades to come,” May said as she arrived on Saturday in Ankara, a day after meeting US President Donald Trump. May was to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim later.
This first agreement, worth $125.6 million (R1,7 billion), could facilitate “multi-billion pound” deals between the two countries in the future, the government said in its statement. The fighter project was said to have been delayed after a coup attempt against Erdogan last year.
The UK is hoping to agree on a “jumbo” post-Brexit trade deal with Turkey, Foreign Minister Boris Johnson said last year. While talks between May and her Turkish counterparts are to focus on trade, the prime minister urged Erdogan in a joint appearance to honour Turkey’s humanrights commitments.
“I am proud that the UK stood with you on July 15 last year in defenced of democracy,” May said.
“Now it is important that Turkey sustains that democracy by maintaining the rule of law and upholding its international human rights obligations as the government has undertaken to do.”
Erdogan’s government has come under fire for the hard line it took with the many soldiers, teachers, judges and business leaders it holds responsible for last summer’s failed coup.
The UK and Turkey are also connected through their respective relations with Cyprus, an island nation divided since a Turkish invasion in the 1970s.
Britain ruled Cyprus until a war in pursuit of unification with Greece led to independence in 1960. The three so-called guarantor nations – Greece, Turkey and the UK – met with Cypriot officials earlier this month seeking an accord on security and property rights as Turkey maintains a military presence on the island. – Bloomberg