In a new shift in regarding the potential sale of Eurofighter jets to equip the Turkish Air Force, Germany has once again halted the deal, citing political concerns about the country’s democratic system, with particular emphasis on the recent arrest of one of the main political opponents of the government led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The decision represents not only a major setback for the institution’s capacity diversification plans, but also for the United Kingdom and its well-known offer of a total of 40 aircraft configured to the Tranche 4 standard.
The news was reported by the German outlet Handelsblatt, which consulted government sources from the outgoing coalition government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, learning the reasons behind this return to a veto stance. In this regard, it should be mentioned that Berlin is particularly concerned about the detention of Ekrem Imamoğlu, one of the leaders of the opposition to the current government. According to his party (the Republican People’s Party), the news is a clear “political conspiracy,” as the mayor of Istanbul faces corruption charges that could prevent him from running for future presidential elections; the government denies this and argues that it is an independent judicial investigation and not an attack on the democratic system.
Regardless of the court’s determination on the accusations against Imamoğlu, the strong public protests and the aforementioned indications are reason enough in the eyes of the German government to describe the situation as an “attack on Turkish democracy,” and consequently to withdraw its approval of the arms sale to Turkey. It should be remembered at this point that the sale of the Eurofighter jets in question requires the unanimous approval of the four partner countries involved in the manufacturing consortium: Germany, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom; therefore, the recent German decision would completely freeze the operation.
It is useful to recall that Ankara has been seeking to acquire new Eurofighter jets at least since 2023, after facing difficulties negotiating the arrival of F-16 aircraft to strengthen its Air Force. These intentions have had strong backing from the United Kingdom since then, a country that considers the potential sale as a significant boost to an industrial complex in need of new contracts to maintain jobs in the future—largely due to the decision to acquire American F-35 stealth fighters as the main platform for renewing its fighter fleet.
However, this has been a process marked from the beginning by doubts within the German government about the recipient of these new aircraft, even though Turkey is an ally within NATO. For Berlin, the original concerns were focused on military operations carried out by Ankara against Kurdish groups on the Syrian border—an obstacle that was only overcome at the end of last year. At that time, Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler stated: “Germany resisted for a long time, but thanks to the positive support of our NATO allies (Editor´s note: Britain, Italy, and Spain), it responded favorably.”
Taking this into account, the United Kingdom still holds hope of finalizing the sale, according to recent local reports about talks between British and Turkish representatives. From London’s perspective, Germany’s previous approval opened a path that is now difficult to close despite concerns over the state of Turkish democracy. It is suggested that this is more of a political move to allow the newly elected government to make the final decision once in power. In this case, the approval of the sale would depend on future Chancellor Friedrich Merz, candidate of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.
Images used for illustrative purposes only.
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