Campaigners are calling on the UK government to block moves to sell Turkey 40 Eurofighters following the latest repression by president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government.
Turkey: fascistic – but we’ll still do a deal with them
In recent weeks, the Turkish state detained 282 people including lawyers, journalists, and LGBTQ+ campaigners. A range of organisations were targeted including members of the Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK), Democratic Regions Party (DBP), Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), Labor Party (EMEP), Socialist Refoundation Party (SYKP), Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) and Green Left Party.
Negotiations are currently underway with Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain for Turkey’s acquisition of the Eurofighters in a deal reportedly worth approximately $5.6bn. France meanwhile has agreed to sell Turkey MBDA Meteor air-to-air missiles for the fighters. In the UK, BAE Systems – who announced annual profits of £3bn last week – will be the main beneficiary.
This latest clampdown is part of ongoing repression against Kurdish and other opposition voices in Turkey. Since the local elections in 2024, Erdoğan has replaced ten mayors with trustees from his ruling AKP party. In Van, in the Kurdish majority southeast, this has led to widespread protests and repression that included detaining 40 people, including 5 children.
According to a Freedom House report published this week, Turkey is amongst the top 10 countries that has experienced a sharp decline in freedoms over the last decade.
Alongside this latest round of domestic repression, Erdoğan has continued his deadly assault in Rojava – the autonomous Kurdish-majority region of north east Syria. Between 2019 and 2024, Turkey carried out more than 100 airstrikes on oil fields, gas facilities and power stations, cutting off electricity to over one million people and violating International Humanitarian Law. Turkey is also carrying out regular airstrikes in Iraq, killing four civilians in January.
‘Unconscionable’
Campaign Against Arms Trade media spokesperson, Emily Apple, said
It is unconscionable that this Eurofighter deal is still being talked about. Not only is Turkey an authoritarian, human rights abusing regime domestically, it is committing war crimes in Rojava.
This deal is about lining the pockets of arms dealers while Kurdish communities across the region face bombardment and repression from Erdoğan’s fascistic regime.
We need to stand in solidarity with the Kurdish community and show that there’s massive public opposition to this deal now before it is too late.
Featured image via the Canary
