Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said on Thursday that Turkey is in talks with the UK and Spain for the purchase of 40 Eurofighter Typhoon jets, despite Germany’s opposition.
“We are working on the procurement,” Güler said at a parliamentary meeting in Ankara. “Now the UK and Spain are trying to convince Germany, although we are not negotiating with Germany. If possible, we are planning to buy 40 Eurofighter Typhoon jets.”
NATO member Turkey has also asked to buy US F-16 fighter jets, but that order has been delayed.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will probably ask German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at a meeting in Berlin on Friday to lift a block on the sale of the Eurofighter Typhoon jets as he needs to refresh an aging air force, Bloomberg said in a special report on Thursday, citing Turkish officials familiar with the matter.
Germany produces the Eurofighter in a consortium with three other countries.
The chancellor is not expected to consent, Bloomberg cited German officials as saying, as they referred to diplomatic strains between US-led NATO allies and Turkey over the country’s acquisition of air defenses from Russia, its military drive against Kurdish forces in Syria and delay in ratifying Sweden’s membership in NATO.
Erdoğan’s declaration of Israel as a “terrorist state,” while calling Hamas elected rulers and defenders of the Gaza Strip, has added to the list of concerns, Bloomberg cited German officials as saying.