Page 9 - TURKRptNov19

2.3​ ​Germany remains Turkey’s main weapons supplier
German weapons exports to Turkey in 2019 ‘exceed all full-year totals since 2005’​. Germany sent €250.4mn ($277mn) worth of weapons to Turkey in the first eight months of 2019, a figure already higher than any annual amount since 2005—even without including the last four months of the year, according to information cited by German press agency dpa and reported by DW.
The data was released by the German Economy Ministry at the request of the opposition Left party.
Weapons exports to Ankara are very much in focus since Turkish forces invaded northeast Syria to pursue Kurdish fighters Turkey regards as “terrorists”.
The European Union passed a resolution to limit arms sales to Turkey, but stopped short of imposing a weapons embargo.
Last year, ​Turkey was reportedly the No. 1 importer of German weapons by far​. Contracts were valued at €242.8mn.
Turkey’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Sadik Arslan, a former Erdogan adviser, dismissed the EU measures on arms exports as “a joke.”
Unlike cash hungry German establishment, who also controls the EU, German people do not want to obey Erdogan​. Perhaps they vote for periphery parties to show their reaction.
Some 58% of Germans want Turkey expelled from Nato​ over its recent military offensive in Syria, according to a new survey. Only 18% were against the idea.
There is even stronger German support for economic sanctions and export bans against Ankara, the findings of a YouGov survey, commissioned by news agency dpa and released on October 28, showed.
Nato's founding charter allows for a member to quit the military alliance, but there is no mechanism outlining how a country can be kicked out by other member states.
The pollsters interviewed over 2,000 adult Germans between October 25 and 28.
They also found that 61% of Germans wanted Berlin to take a tougher stance against Turkey, with 61% in favour of economic sanctions against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's country while 69% supported a complete export ban.
Germany is Turkey’s biggest trading partner.
2.4​ Erdogan makes an enemy of VW unions
​Erdogan makes an enemy of VW’s trade unions​. Erdogan’s latest enemy is Volkswagen’s powerful trade unions. They have vowed to block the auto giant’s proposal to build a $1.4bn plant in Turkey until the violence brought about by the country’s military offensive in northeastern Syria has been brought to an end.
“I want to state this very clearly: the labour representatives repudiate approval
9​ TURKEY Country Report​ November 2019 ​ ​www.intellinews.com