Turkey has launched talks with the United Kingdom (UK) over the possible sale of a large package of weapons, including fighter jets, transport planes, engines and frigates, reported Middle East Eye.
While US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Bob Menendez said he would continue to block the sale of 40 new F-16 jets to Turkey, the UK became the next address for Ankara.
The Turkish defence chief Hulusi Akar arrived in London on 15 January to meet his UK counterpart Ben Wallace to discuss matters related to defence industry cooperation.
Based on three separate sources familiar with the discussions, the website said that during their meeting Akar and Wallace explored the possibility of Ankara purchasing Eurofighter jets as well as other weapons with an estimated deal value of well over 10 billion dollars.
“They spoke on a range of topics including procurement, with progress made in a number of areas,” one of the sources told MEE, as another Turkish source said they are not in the final stages of negotiations.
Meanwhile, US officials told Turkish counterparts that it would help remove opposition to the fighter aircraft deal in Congress if the conditions were dropped that Turkey has set to back Sweden’s accession to NATO, reported MEE.
Since May, the UK has lifted all restrictions on the export of defence products to Turkey.
