Canada’s reversal on defense exports to Turkiye marks strategic shift within NATO

Turkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signs a drone at a military airbase in Batman, Turkey. (AP file photo)
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Updated 28 January 2024
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Canada’s reversal on defense exports to Turkiye marks strategic shift within NATO

  • Announcement shows an unfreezing of Turkiye-North American defense industrial cooperation, analyst says

ANKARA: In a significant geopolitical development, Canada has decided to lift its years-long embargo on exporting air strike-targeting gear to Turkiye, as reported by Reuters. The embargo, originally prompted by concerns over the diversion of Canadian optical drone technology to Turkish ally Azerbaijan during the 2020 conflict with Armenia, is set to end following Turkiye’s ratification of Sweden’s NATO application protocol.

The resumption of export permits for the Canadian-made L3Harris Wescam targeting equipment comes after a parliamentary vote and presidential approval in Turkiye, aligning with the Swedish NATO accession process.

Rich Outzen, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, views this move as a positive step toward NATO allies collaborating on defense initiatives.




Turkish president Tayyip erdogan meets with canadian prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Vilnius, lithuania. The potential thaw is seen not only through the resumption of canadian exports but also through progress on an F-16 deal. (Reuters)

“It was a different world when Canada stopped such exports. Russia had not ramped up its war in Ukraine, Turkiye had not mended fences with many pro-Western states in the Middle East, and Turkish aerospace industries had not advanced as far as they have today,” he told Arab News.

The embargo covered permits for various military goods, including camera components integral to Turkish drones.

Noting that the L3 Harris/Wescam systems are useful in drones such as Turkiye’s Bayraktar TB2, many of which have been exported to Ukraine, Outzen said that there was a shared interest of Turkiye and the US/Canada when agreeing to lift this critical embargo.

“The Turks can manufacture domestic optics, but perhaps not in the quantity needed and perhaps not at the same level of sophistication,” he said.

While not officially confirmed, Reuters reports that the new deal includes a commitment for Canada to receive information on the end-users of the military equipment, especially if re-exported to non-NATO members.

The potential thaw in defense-industrial cooperation is seen not only through the resumption of Canadian exports but also through progress on an F-16 deal.

Outzen thinks the Canadian announcement shows an unfreezing of Turkiye-North American defense industrial cooperation.

“Turkiye is a growing player in the defense industry — including ammunition and ground vehicles as well as drones and related equipment — so this is an important development for the alliance,” he said.

“The West has a need for more defense industrial production, given the threat of multiple wars and the reality of limitations in the Western defense industrial base. Turkiye needs the continued technological partnering. So, the door is open for mutually beneficial defense cooperation to increase.”

Turkiye, keen on upgrading its military technology, linked Sweden’s NATO membership to the approval of a $23 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets, including modernizing its existing fleet.

The US State Department’s recent approval of the sale aligns with US foreign policy goals to enhance Turkiye’s air capabilities and interoperability within NATO.

The $23 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkiye includes 40 Lockheed Martin F-16s and equipment to modernize 79 of its existing F-16 fleet.

The State Department has recently notified Congress that it has approved the sale of F-16 aircraft and related equipment to Turkiye, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed off on Sweden’s accession protocol to NATO. The lawmakers have 15 days to object following the formal notification to Congress.

The sale supports US foreign policy goals “by improving the air capabilities and interoperability” of NATO ally Turkiye, according to a statement from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Friday.

Sine Ozkarasahin, an analyst in the security and defense program at EDAM, an Istanbul-based think tank, notes that external reliance on subsystems remains a challenge for Turkiye’s defense industrial base, particularly in high-end sophisticated solutions.

“This reliance affects industries like the fifth-generation tactical military aircraft, submarines and main battle tanks more than drone systems,” she told Arab News.

Despite restrictions affecting projects like the Altay main battle tank, Ozkarasahin highlights how Turkish drone manufacturers found alternatives, such as the domestically developed Aselsan national camera system.

“We saw how Turkiye’s Altay main battle tank project stalled because of Germany’s export restrictions,” she said.

However, according to Ozkarasahin, Turkish drone manufacturers such as Baykar were able to find a way around the restricted Canadian systems such as the L3Harris Wescam by reaching out to indigenous replacements, as well as other supply channels.

“The domestically developed Aselsan national camera system, Common Aperture Targeting System, is one example,” she said.

The Canadian embargo obliged Ankara to produce the embargoed parts on its own, which reinforced domestic production capabilities, like the indigenous armed drone Bayraktar TB2 UCAV using domestically developed electro-optic reconnaissance, surveillance and targeting system CATS that was developed by Turkish defense company Aselsan.

Ozkarasahin thinks that Canada’s move to lift the export controls that it adopted back in 2020 can fuel a positive momentum and a softening approach towards Turkiye within the Western bloc.

“As a NATO country with a defense ecosystem compatible with the Alliance’s military doctrine and infrastructure, from a technical standpoint, trading with Western partners is always the best alternative for Ankara,” she said.

Yet, Ozkarasahin also said that Turkiye’s Western allies that had previously imposed embargoes on Ankara — such as Canada — will see that the Turkish supply pool now includes more variety, meaning more competition.

In the meantime, the mass production of Turkiye’s indigenous long-range air defense system SIPER Product-1 has recently begun, and it is expected to rival the Russian S-400.

Haluk Gorgun, the head of the Turkish Defense Industries Presidency, recently announced that the systems would be delivered to the Turkish Air Forces Command in mid-2024.

How the sale of US fighter jets to NATO member Turkiye will impact Ankara-Moscow ties is still uncertain, as Ankara has long maintained its close ties and military technology trade with Moscow as an instrument to bolster its security needs.

In the past, Ankara’s deal with Moscow for the purchase of a multibillion-dollar Russian S-400 mobile surface-to-air missile system triggered several US sanctions on the NATO ally over the concerns that it would pose a risk to the NATO alliance as well as the US-led F-35 joint strike fighter program. Washington also removed Turkiye from the F-35 joint strike fighter program.

“In the given technical context, Russia and Turkiye don’t and can’t have a meaningful defense relationship. The S-400 incident was an anomaly. Haluk Gorgun’s statements stating that the entry of assets like the Long-Range Regional Air and Missile Defense System Project (SIPER) into the Turkish arsenal made the S-400 unnecessary show that there is no real appetite in Ankara to build such ties with Moscow in the coming months,” Ozkarasahin said.

The purchase of new F-16s signifies a pivotal moment for Turkiye’s aging air force arsenal, following its exclusion from the F-35 program in 2019 over the Russian missile defense system acquisition.


Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee West Bank refugee camps

Updated 18 February 2025
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Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee West Bank refugee camps

  • The camps, built for descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war around the creation of the state of Israel, have long been major centers for armed militant groups

JERUSALEM: Tens of thousands of Palestinians living in refugee camps in the occupied West Bank have left their homes as a weeks-long Israeli offensive has demolished houses and torn up vital infrastructure in the heavily built up townships, Palestinian authorities said.
Israeli forces began their operation in the refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Jan. 21, deploying hundreds of troops and bulldozers that demolished houses and dug up roads, driving almost all of the camp’s residents out.
“We don’t know what’s going on in the camp but there is continuous demolition and roads being dug up,” said Mohammed Al-Sabbagh, head of the Jenin camp services committee.

An Israeli army excavator demolishes a residential building in the Tulkarem camp for Palestinian refugees during an ongoing Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The operation, which Israel says is aimed at thwarting Iranian-backed militant groups in the West Bank, has since been extended to other camps, notably the Tulkarm refugee camp and the nearby Nur Shams camp, both of which have also been devastated. The camps, built for descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war around the creation of the state of Israel, have long been major centers for armed militant groups. They have been raided repeatedly by the Israeli military but the current operation, which began as a ceasefire was agreed in Gaza, has been on an unusually large scale. According to figures from the Palestinian Authority, around 17,000 people have now left Jenin refugee camp, leaving the site almost completely deserted, while in Nur Shams 6,000 people, or about two thirds of the total, have left, with another 10,000 leaving from Tulkarm camp.
“The ones who are left are trapped,” said Nihad Al-Shawish, head of the Nur Shams camp services committee. “The Civil Defense, the Red Crescent and the Palestinian security forces brought them some food yesterday but the army is still bulldozing and destroying the camp.” The Israeli raids have demolished dozens of houses and torn up large stretches of roadway as well as cutting off water and power, but the military has denied forcing residents to leave their homes.
“People obviously have the possibility to move or go where they want, if they will. But if they don’t, they’re allowed to stay,” Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters.
The operation began as Israel moved to banish the main UN Palestinian relief organization UNRWA from its headquarters in East Jerusalem and cut it off from any contact with Israeli officials.
The ban, which took effect at the end of January, has hit UNRWA’s work in the West Bank and Gaza, where it provides aid for millions of Palestinians in the refugee camps.
Israel has accused UNRWA of cooperating with Hamas and said some UNRWA workers even took part in the Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that set off the 15-month war in Gaza.

 


More than one million Syrians return to their homes: UN

People walk past shops in Homs on February 10, 2025. (AFP)
Updated 19 February 2025
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More than one million Syrians return to their homes: UN

  • “Since the fall of the regime in Syria we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes,” Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees

GENEVA: More than one million people have returned to their homes in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar Assad, including 280,000 refugees who came back from abroad, the UN said on Tuesday.
Assad was toppled in December in a rebel offensive, putting an end to his family’s decades-long grip on power in the Middle Eastern country and bookmarking a civil war that broke out in 2011, with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
Syria’s war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions from their homes.
The Islamist-led rebels whose offensive ousted Assad have sought to assure the international community that they have broken with their past and will respect the rights of minorities.
“Since the fall of the regime in Syria we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes,” Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote on the X social media platform.
“Early recovery efforts must be bolder and faster, though, otherwise people will leave again: this is now urgent!” he said.
At a meeting in Paris in mid-February, some 20 countries, including Arab nations, Turkiye, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan agreed at the close of a conference in Paris to “work together to ensure the success of the transition in a process led by Syria.”
The meeting’s final statement also pledged support for Syria’s new authorities in the fight against “all forms of terrorism and extremism.”
 

 


Israeli military says it struck weapons belonging to former Syrian administration in southern Syria

Updated 19 February 2025
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Israeli military says it struck weapons belonging to former Syrian administration in southern Syria

CAIRO: The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it struck weapons which it said belonged to the former Syrian administration in southern Syria.

 


Algiers slams French minister’s visit to W. Sahara

Updated 18 February 2025
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Algiers slams French minister’s visit to W. Sahara

  • France’s stance on Western Sahara has been ambiguous in recent years, often straining its ties with Morocco

ALGIERS: Algeria on Tuesday denounced a visit by French Culture Minister Rachida Dati to Western Sahara, after Paris recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory, as “objectionable on multiple levels.”
The vast desert territory is a former Spanish colony largely controlled by Morocco but claimed for decades by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front.
Dati, who described her visit as “historic,” launched with Moroccan Culture Minister Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid a French cultural mission in the territory’s main city, Laayoune.
An Algerian foreign ministry statement posted on social media Tuesday said the visit “reflects blatant disregard for international legality by a permanent member of the UN Security Council.”
“This visit reinforces Morocco’s fait accompli in Western Sahara, a territory where the decolonization process remains incomplete and the right to self-determination unfulfilled,” it said.
Dati’s trip, a first for a French official, “reflects the detestable image of a former colonial power in solidarity with a new one,” the statement added.
The United Nations considers Western Sahara to be a “non-self-governing territory” and has had a peacekeeping mission there since 1991, whose stated aim is to organize a referendum on the territory’s future.
But Rabat has repeatedly rejected any vote in which independence is an option, instead proposing autonomy under Morocco.
France’s stance on Western Sahara has been ambiguous in recent years, often straining its ties with Morocco.
But in July, French President Emmanuel Macron said Rabat’s autonomy plan was the “only basis” to resolve the Western Sahara dispute.
Algeria has backed the separatist Polisario Front and cut diplomatic relations with Rabat in 2021 — the year after Morocco normalized ties with Israel under a deal that awarded it US recognition of its annexation of the Western Sahara.
In October, the UN Security Council called for parties to “resume negotiations” to reach a “lasting and mutually acceptable solution” to the Western Sahara dispute.
In November 2020, the Polisario Front said it was ending a 29-year ceasefire with Morocco after Moroccan troops were deployed to the far south of the territory to remove independence supporters blocking the only road to Mauritania.
The Polisario Front claims the route is illegal, arguing that it did not exist when the ceasefire was established in 1991.
 

 


Kurdistan region’s pipeline restart ready to go, foreign minister says

Updated 18 February 2025
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Kurdistan region’s pipeline restart ready to go, foreign minister says

  • Baghdad has periodically withheld the Kurdistan region’s share of the federal budget to try to stop it from exporting oil independently

BAGHDAD: A major pipeline connecting Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region to Turkiye is ready to reopen and resume exports, the Kurdish foreign minister said on Tuesday, potentially ending a dispute between Baghdad and Irbil that led to the closure of the pipeline in 2023.
Foreign Minister Safeen Dizayee declined to say when the pipeline would reopen but said it would mark a turning point in relations between Kurdistan and Baghdad.
Iraq’s oil minister said on Monday the Iraq-Turkiye pipeline (ITP) will resume next week.
“All arrangements that were set on the table have been agreed to, with the aim to prepare for re-exports. There shouldn’t be any hiccups. The legal aspects have been met, the technical aspects are in place,” Dizayee told Reuters by phone. “The button just has to be pushed to increase production and then re-export.”
The oil flows were halted by Turkiye in March 2023 after the International Chamber of Commerce ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages of $1.5 billion for unauthorized pipeline exports by the Kurdistan Regional Government between 2014 and 2018.
Negotiations to restart the pipeline have been ongoing, with US officials participating in some of the talks.
Resuming oil exports will boost the Kurdistan region’s budget, Dizayee said.
“This means Kurdistan will benefit from the federal budget and hopefully this will end the saga of (civil servants’) salaries coming or not coming, received in dribs and drabs,” Dizayee said.
Baghdad has periodically withheld the Kurdistan region’s share of the federal budget to try to stop it from exporting oil independently.
Oil producers in the Kurdistan region have had to wind down production without an export route. It will likely take some time for them to restart their oil wells and for the pipeline to use its full capacity. Before it was shut down, it transported around 450,000 barrels per day.
“They’ve invested a lot. It was a risk they took and it must pay off. They [the companies] need assurances that their investment will not be down the drain,” Dizayee said. “Compensation is something that needs to be discussed.”
An international consultancy will be brought in to do an assessment of the cost of production, expenses, cost recovery and the production sharing agreements, he said.