Canada made an important decision regarding Turkey. The Canadian government announced that it has lifted arms export restrictions to Turkey, including UAV optical equipment.
In the statement made to exporting companies on the government’s official website, it was stated that the restrictions are no longer in effect.
In the statement, it was reminded that the rejection policy began to be applied to applications for the export of certain items related to the defense industry to Turkey on April 16, 2020, and said, “As of the date of this notification, the possible rejection policy is no longer in effect.” The expression was used.
It was noted that applications for export and brokerage permits to be made to Turkey by exporter groups, including the ammunition list, will now be examined on a case-by-case basis within the scope of Canada’s risk assessment framework.
The statement also included standard expressions in similar international export permits, as well as requests for assurance in case of sales to third countries and some references to human rights law.
According to Reuters, it was stated that unmanned aerial vehicle optical equipment was also included in the list where restrictions were lifted.
BACKGROUND OF THE RESTRICTIONS
The Canadian government imposed an arms embargo on Turkey due to its side with Azerbaijan in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, which started on September 27, 2020, against the Azerbaijani lands occupied by Armenia and lasted for 44 days.
Canada placed an embargo on defense industry exports to Turkey in October 2020, claiming that Canadian technology was used in Turkish unmanned aerial vehicles used against Armenian positions.
Due to this embargo decision, Canadian companies lost between 250-300 million dollars, and Telemus Systems, the only user of its products, TAI, went bankrupt because it could not generate any income in the first 7 months of 2021.
The Ottawa administration initiated its first embargo in response to Turkey’s military operation against Syria in 2019, but backed down from this decision in June 2020 as a result of high-level talks between the parties.
