After the Turkish invasion of northern Syria in October last year, Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon froze all licenses issued by his government for the export of military equipment to Turkey. At the time, this concerned four shipments of dual-use goods - products that are normally used for civilian purposes but can also be used for military purposes.

However, Flemish companies continue to supply parts for the A400M, a military aircraft used by Turkey. The A400M is a project involving six NATO member states, including Belgium and Turkey. Parts of it are not covered by the Flemish embargo. The trade is very important for Flemish companies, which have exported parts worth 86 million euros since the project started in 2013.

Turkey is not the only country using the planes, but according to De Morgen, it is "the most worrying country". According to the Vredesactie Peace Institute, Ankara used the plane to transport jihadist mercenaries from Syria to new battlefields, including Azerbaijan and Artsakh. The A400M was also used to transport arms from Turkey to Libya, in violation of another arms embargo.

In a response to a parliamentary question by Annick Lambrecht, Jambon admitted that exports of parts for the A400M did not fall within the scope of its embargo. The parts are not delivered to Turkey, but to the production facility in Spain. And they are not explicitly intended for aircraft for Turkey. "I can confirm that there are no exports of spare parts for the A400M to Turkey," Jambon said, prompting Vredesactie to call for a review of Flemish arms export policy.

"Generic approvals are normally only for EU member states, but there is an exception for NATO allies such as Turkey," Bram Vranken of Vredesactie told De Morgen. "The Turkish military actions in Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh show that this is not a country to which exports can be made without any control. It is time to close this legal loophole."