With the main aim of selling warships to Turkey, the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is visiting Ankara, accompanied by six ministers of his government, to attend the 7th Spanish-Turkish Summit in the Turkish capital.
The strengthening of military cooperation will be one of the axes of the official visit, according to ertnews.gr. Spain is one of Turkey’s best allies in the EU and a NATO partner that still has Patriot missiles on the Syrian-Turkish border since 2015, at a time when other NATO members have already left.
Other issues are also expected to be discussed at the meeting the situation in the eastern Mediterranean, bilateral trade relations, immigration and cooperation plans in areas such as defense, and several agreements will be signed.
According to an ERT report, citing Moncloa sources, bilateral relations between the two countries, especially trade, are good, while hope to recover the 13 billion euros in 2019 that were reduced in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Turkey has commissioned a Spanish shipyard to design a warship
At the same time, Turkey commissioned the Spanish shipyard Navantia to design an amphibious LHD ship similar to the Juan Carlos I that will be put into operation next year. The contract included the construction of a second similar ship, but this has not yet been finalized. Turkey planned to use both ships as platforms for F-35 aircraft, but the Pentagon canceled the sale after Erdogan bought the S-400 air defense system from Russia.
“The Turkish navy is now reorienting the operational use of Anadolu to equip it with drones,” the El País newspaper reported. In addition, the Spanish Navantia participated in the Idef weapons exhibition in Istanbul last August, where it presented the F-110 frigate and the S-80 submarine, which it is building for the Spanish Navy.
The Spanish delegation will visit the mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk in Ankara and after the meetings of the two sides, a formal dinner will be given by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
It is noted that the previous meeting was held in 2018 under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
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