(Bloomberg) -- President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to lift a block on the sale of Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Turkey, as his country scales back a $23 billion contract for F-16s with the US.
The leaders also discussed Turkey’s request to buy engines for its warships, Erdogan said after a NATO summit in Washington. “We also want to receive turbines by Siemens, which are the most critical unit of our Akkuyu nuclear plant,” he said, referring to a $24 billion plant being built by Russia on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.
Turkey is keen to secure fighter jet deals to respond to rival Greece’s acquisition of Rafale fighters and planned purchase of F-35 warplanes. The neighboring NATO allies are engaged in long-running territorial disputes ranging from the Aegean Sea to the Eastern Mediterranean.
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Scholz’s government has so far blocked the sale of Eurofighter Typhoon jets over Turkey’s acquisition of Russian air defenses, its military drive against Kurdish forces in Syria as well as Turkey’s delay in ratifying Sweden’s membership in NATO until January.
“Scholz did not have a negative stance on Eurofighters,” Erdogan said.
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