Despite ongoing tension between Berlin and Ankara over a visit to military bases in Turkey, the detention of several German journalists and a rights defender and Turkish asylum seekers in Germany, German firms sold Turkey 5.6 million euros worth of arms and ammunition during the first four months of 2017, the Hürriyet daily reported on Friday.
According to data announced by the German Economy Ministry upon a parliamentary question by Germany’s socialist Left party, permission for the sales of some of the arms and ammunition was given years ago and delivery has been under way since the beginning of this year.
The ministry said Germany sold arms and ammunition worth 49 million euros to Turkey in 2016 and 26,500 million euros worth arms and ammunition in 2015.
According to German law, the export of arms by German firms must be approved by the German government.
Turkey was given permission to procure arms and ammunition worth 22 million euros during the first four months of 2017 and 83.9 million euros in 2016, according to the German Economy Ministry data.