Didier Burkhalter, former Swiss Foreign Minister who resigned 6 months ago, attended a program on Swiss state television RTS and said Switzerland should stop arms sales to conflict zones.

Without giving names, Burkhalter pointed out that some countries that buy arms are directly in conflict zones or parties in conflicts outside their own borders: “My opinion is that inquiries to buy weapons by countries in conflict zones or are involved in conflict should be rejected and this matter should be transparent.”

The Switzerland State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) published a report in the past months and announced that Switzerland had sold war equipment worth 446.813.934 Swiss Franks to 64 countries in 2017, with a 8% increase compared to 2016.

MPS CALL TO STOP SELLING ARMS TO TURKEY

Despite intense pressure from democratic circles, Switzerland had sold war equipment worth 640.000 Swiss Franks in 2017, a high amount compared to previous years despite having turned down some of the requests.

Recently, 22 National Parliament MPs from various parties had pointed out that Turkey is waging a war against Kurds both domestically and through borders and called for an immediate stop to arms sales to Turkey.