Berlin has officially confirmed that its arms sale to Turkey has continued since the Turkish Armed Forces’ military offensive was launched in Syria’s Afrin region on January 20.
According to Deutsche Welle, the German Economic Affairs Ministry responded a parliamentary question by Omid Nouripour, the lawmaker from the Green Party, saying that the German government approved 20 different proposals for the sale of military materials valuing €4,4 million to Ankara since Turkey’s recent Syria offensive, dubbed ‘Operation Olive Branch, was launched.
As the German authorities did not announce what materials were sent to Ankara, the class of military materials also includes armless military vehicles and surveillance technology.
However, former German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabrial alleged last month that the military sales to Turkey were stopped when Turkey’s Afrin offensive started. As German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yücel was released in Turkey in February after a one-year pre-trial detention, Gabriel said on a TV program:
"We have not carried out any military shipment in relation to the conflicts in northern Syria. In such cases, Germany is not allowed to send military materials even while Turkey is a NATO ally," adding that they could have delivered military materials except arms before the Afrin operation, but they stopped the shipment of all sorts of materials.
Nevertheless, the recent official statement dated March 13 from the German economy ministry states that individual military sales to Ankara continued even after Turkey’s Afrin offensive. “The approvals in question are related with Germany’s agreements with its NATO allies and the principle of defending the NATO alliance,” the statement underlined.
Meanwhile, German lawmaker Nouripour blamed the German government for deceiving the German people. “The German government systematically deceived the public opinion,” he said, adding that the German ministry’s approval of exportations shadowed the credibility of the new government because of Turkey’s disproportionate intervention in northern Syria.
Both Turkish and German officials rejected the allegations of military material sales in relation with journalist Yücel’s release. “There were no clean or dirty deals related to Yücel's release,” Sigmar Gabriel said previously.
According to German Economic Affairs Undersecretary Matthias Machnig’s written notice, Germany’s military sales to Ankara have increased after 2018. The German government approved 34 exportation packages valuing €9,7 million in January and February. Turkey paid €34,2 million to Berlin for military materials in 2017 despite the diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
