ISTANBUL (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday that a project to possibly supply Turkey with Eurofighter jets was an effort being driven by Britain and was in the early stages.
“It is something that will continue to develop, but is now being driven forward from there (Britain),” he said when asked about potential movement on the issue at a press conference in Istanbul with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
The British government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the subject.
Ankara said last year it was in talks with Britain and Spain to buy Eurofighter Typhoons, though Germany objected to the idea. Since then, it has complained of a lack of progress on the issue and Erdogan alluded to Berlin’s reluctance until now.
“We wish to leave behind some of the difficulties experienced in the past in the supply of defence industry products and develop our cooperation,” Erdogan told reporters.
On Thursday a Turkish defence ministry official said Turkey had been conducting technical work aimed at accelerating its planned purchase of the jets.
The Eurofighter Typhoon jets are built by a consortium of Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain, represented by companies Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo.
(Reporting by Tom Sims, Daren Butler in Istanbul, M. Mujiva in London; Editing by Alex Richardson and David Evans)
