Catalan MEP denounces Spain’s weapon exports to Turkey
https://english.vilaweb.cat/noticies/ponsati-denounces-spains-weapon-exports-to-turkey/ Read in Catalan
#EspañaEnMarcha “Using the hashtag #SupportToTurkey, Spain emphasised the fact that Turkey is a fellow member…” https://t.co/5wyvhKHMaP via @middleeastmnt— Ellen Ripley St. Stephen’s Oak Creek, Wisconsin (@8passenger) October 10, 2019
Catalan MEP Clara Ponsatí has called on the EU’s high representative for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, to stop Spain from selling arms to Turkey and recalled that the state is the main European arms provider to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s regime. “This must be stopped by the Commission, Mr Borrell,” she said to the EU foreign minister, who was present at the European Parliament’s plenary session this Wednesday.
Ponsatí made the call in a speech focusing on the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia – centred on Artsakh, also known as the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Weapons that EU members sell to Turkey, she said, are ending up being used in this conflict, which she described as “military aggression against the Armenian people” that “threatens the stability of the whole Caucasus region.”
In this context, Ponsati called on the European Commission to “increase the pressure on Turkey and Azerbaijan” to stop the offensive against the Artsakh Republic. “The conflict can be and will be resolved through constructive negotiation between the parties.”
Victims of Spain’s Turkish ally in Rojava, Nth Syria
Estado Mayor Defensa @EMADmdeLevel 1: continúa protegiendo la población de Adana #24siete con el XI Contingente #PATRIOT@EjercitoTierra#MOPS#NuestraMisiónTuLibertad#SupportToTurkey
“But to reach a peaceful solution, the right to self-determination of the citizens of the Republic of Artsakh must be respected,” concluded Ponsatí. It was a speech which pointed a finger straight at Borrell, given the Catalan MEP’s denouncement of Spain’s dubious honour of being Turkey’s main military partner, while she also affirmed that the solution to the dispute must be based on what the population wants – respecting the right to self-determination.
In late September, Azerbaijan launched an offensive in the Artsakh Republic that has led to an armed conflict between that country (with the cooperation of Turkey) and Armenia, in which hundreds of soldiers have already been killed.
On Monday, 48 MEPs (including the exiled Catalan president Carles Puigdemont) signed a letter addressed to Josep Borrell calling for the EU to take measures “to immediately stop the aggression against Azerbaijan’s unacceptable military aggression in Artsakh [which is Armenian territory]“.
Armas españolas para el mundo.España es uno de los siete países del mundo que más armas, municiones y tecnología de doble uso, civil y militar, exporta. Un mercado extendido por los cinco continentes y en expansión
Josep M.Andreu. ||*|| @Josepmandreu·Level 2:Aliados de Turquía asesinos cobardes, algún día pagareis por los crímenes contra el pueblo Kurdo @info_Rojava @kurdifusion @KSCymru@KurdistanLat
España en la OTAN @SpainNATO·
El @EjercitoTierra está presente en los siguientes despliegues :
- @NATO#OTAN: 1.-
- @ResoluteSupport 2.-
- #NMI 3.-
- #SupporttoTurkey 4.-
- @eFPBGLatvia
Spain confirms it continues to give military support to Turkey
El Nacional
Photo: @EMADmde
Spain has become the only European country to continue giving military support to Turkey’s operations in north-eastern Syria, maintaining missile units in the region while the Turks conducted Operation Peace Spring, affecting Kurdish forces and civilians in particular.
Madrid has confirmed the operation via a tweet from the army’s General Staff, stating that “Operation Support for Turkey continues to protect the people of Adana 24-7 with the XI #PATRIOT Contingent”.
By ‘Adana’ he means the NATO base in Incirlik from where Turkey continues to bomb the civilian population of North Syria and Iraq, using NATO jets, as well as unleashing its Drone Offensive.
Turkey bombed, shelled, invaded and evicted half the population of Afrin and installed its paid jihadi mercenary militias.
Predictably, taking advantage of international impunity Erdogan has launched new invasions in Nth Syria, Idlib, Libya, Iraq and Azerbaijan in the insane quest to reconquer the medieval Ottoman Empire, and he is now preparing a new invasion in Syria..
The origin of the operation
On 9th October last year, Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced his next illegal and genocidal invasion .. the start of Operation Peace Spring, a new military operation in northern Syria. Just prior to that, on October 6th, the Trump administration had ordered the withdrawal of US troops from northeastern Syria, where the United States had been supporting its Kurdish allies in the war against the Islamic State.
The Turkish operation was condemned by the European Union, the Arab League, Iran, Israel, India and the United Kingdom as an attack on the borders of a sovereign state, and an irresponsible and destabilizing action which had “potentially terrible” humanitarian consequences.
Spain joined with European counrtries in a vague ban on exports to Turkey of arms ”Susceptible to being used en the Syrian ‘Operation’ ”.This was a joke, a cynical PR exercise, Nth Syria was bombed shelled and invaded with NATO jets, tanks and logistics, not just small arms. But ‘money talks’ and the EU backed away from banning all arms sales.
Demonstration against the bombing, invasion, looting and emptying of the Kurdish city of Serekaniye / Ras al-Ayn in Syria by Turkish forces.
Meanwhile the result of the previous Afrin invasion is still a chaos of Turkish military and badly paid jihadi militia’s, often fighting each other, looting, kidnapping and raping those Kurds who remain, while the other half remain exiled in tent camps in Shehba which are regularily shelled by the Turkish military. In Afrin Turkish is now the official language as Turkification continues at all levels.
What happened in Afrin is now being repeating in the newly occupied areas and Erdogan is again threatening a new invasion.. This is what Spain supports with its arms sales.
Despite all this Spain still has its Patriot anti-ballistic missiles stationed at Adana, in the south of Turkey, since the beginning of 2015. Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu recently said Spain was a “true friend” to Turkey for maintaining its military support while other nations have withdrawn.
The governments of Rajoy and Erdogan agreed to hide data on sales of military material
Both countries maintain an “agreement on the protection of classified information in the defense industry” in force, aimed at preventing the details of these programs from being known. In 2017, such exports to Ankara reached € 301.5 million.
The EU calls for the maximum restriction of arms sales to Turkey but does not agree to a general embargo
The Spanish government joined the embargo on arms sales to Turkey already decided by Germany, France, the Netherlands and Finland. But the embargo limited to those categories of weapons that can be used in the offensive against the Kurds of Syria and does not affect the contracts in force, such as the Airbus A400M transport aircraft that are assembled in Seville: or the amphibious assault ship LHD Anadolu built in Istanbul by a Spanish-Turkish consortium, in which the public shipyard Navantia participates.
Spanish exports are not limited to ships and aircraft. In the first half of 2018, the sale of war ammunition worth 10.8 million euros was authorized, although it is not known whether this materialized. In addition, Spain has deployed since 2015 a battery of Patriot missiles, with 150 soldiers, at the Incirlik base (Turkey), near the border with Syria
“classified information”
On March 20, 2018, the Government of Rajoy published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) the decree that launched the confidentiality agreement between both countries. Jordi Amadans, director of Fundació Per la Pau (FundiPau). remarks that “in general they are requests from the purchasing countries, aware that arms sales to those sites can be the subject of discussion or political debate.” “Precisely, the latest data collected by Fundipau, Intermon Oxfam, Amnesty International and Greenpeace –organizations that make up the Control Arms campaign– indicate that Spain has allowed millionaire defense deals with Turkey. According to the “Analysis of Spanish exports of defense material, other material and dual-use products and technologies in 2017”, exports of this type of products to Ankara reached 301.5 million euros that year.
In the first half of 2018, the last period for which official statistics have been released, Spain sold Defense equipment to Ankara worth 162.5 million euros, 9.5% of the total. Turkey was the fourth client of the Spanish military industry, after Germany, France and Saudi Arabia.
Beyond Saudi Arabia … Spain sells arms to almost all countries in conflict
“información clasificada”
El 20 de marzo de 2018, el Gobierno de Rajoy publicó en el Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE) el decreto que ponía en marcha el convenio de confidencialidad entre ambos países. Jordi Amadans, director de Fundació Per la Pau (FundiPau). remarca que “en general son peticiones de los países compradores, conscientes de que las ventas de armas a esos sitios pueden ser objeto de discusión o debate político”. “Precisamente, los últimos datos recogidos por Fundipau, Intermon Oxfam, Amnistía Internacional y Greenpeace –organizaciones que componen la campaña Armas Bajo Control– indican que España ha permitido negocios millonarios en materia de Defensa con Turquía. Según consta en el “Análisis de las exportaciones españolas de material de defensa, de otro material y de productos y tecnologías de doble uso en 2017”, las exportaciones de ese tipo de productos a Ankara alcanzaron ese año los 301,5 millones de euros.
En el primer semestre de 2018, último periodo del que se ha difundido estadísticas oficiales, España vendió material de Defensa a Ankara por valor de 162,5 millones de euros, el 9,5% del total. Turquía fue el cuarto cliente de la industria militar española, tras Alemania, Francia y Arabia Saudí.
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