Spain seeks to sell warships to Turkey – Sanchez visits Ankara

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 previous meeting was held in 2018 under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Spain’s main goal is to sell warships to Turkey.

According to ERT, the strengthening of military cooperation will be one of the axes of the official visit. Spain is one of Turkey’s best allies in the EU and a NATO partner that still maintains Patriot missiles on the Syrian-Turkish border since 2015, although the other NATO members have already left.

In addition, other issues are expected to be discussed, such as the situation in the eastern Mediterranean, bilateral trade relations, migration and co-operation plans in areas such as defense, and several agreements will be signed.

According to ERT, Moncloa sources emphasize the good bilateral relations between the two countries and especially the trade ones and hope for the recovery of 13 billion euros in 2019 and decreased in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition, Turkey has commissioned the Spanish shipyard Navantia to design an LHD amphibious ship similar to the Juan Carlos I to be launched next year. The contract included the construction of a second similar ship, but this has not yet been finalized. “Turkey had 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.