Turkey, Britain ink $125M fighter jet deal
NATO allies talk free trade accord post-Brexit
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey and Britain signed a deal to jointly build fighter jets during Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to Ankara Saturday, even as the British leader called on Turkey’s government to abide by human rights standards.
Britain’s BAE Systems and Turkish Aerospace industries signed the (nearly $125.5 million agreement establishing a partnership for the development of Turkey’s fighter jet program after May met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish officials about boosting trade between the countries once Britain leaves the European Union.
The two countries agreed to start preparatory work for a future free trade agreement and also talked about increasing cooperation in security and counterterrorism.
“This agreement underlines once again that Britain is a great, global, trading nation and that we are open for business,” May said of the fighter jet deal, according to a statement. “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 flew overnight to Ankara by RAF Voyager jet from the U.S., where she and U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday proclaimed a new chapter in the transAtlantic “special relationship.”
The visit to Turkey, an important but complicated NATO ally, came amid pressure at home to condemn Turkey’s clampdown on civil liberties since the government crushed a coup attempt in July.
“I am proud that the U.K. stood with you on the 15th of July last year in defense of your democracy,” May said as she and Erdogan delivered brief statements to the media following their talks.
“And 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,” she said.
Turkey has detained tens of thousands of people suspected of links to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the government accuses of orchestrating the failed coup attempt.