In the "new" Turkey, whose architect Erdoğan boasts, the country's leadership relies on military equipment from its own production. But the armaments industry is not so domestic after all. Important parts of Turkish weapons continue to come from German production, according to an answer by the Federal Ministry of Economics to a parliamentary question by the Greens. The Greens' parliamentary group asked the federal government about the export of warheads for missiles to be attached to combat drones. In particular, the question concerned warheads for the long-range anti-tank missiles (LRAT) and medium-range armoured missiles (MRAT), both of which are manufactured by the Turkish company Roketsan. According to information from the German government, export licences for ten kits of warheads for LRAT missiles were issued in 2014.

Guided missiles launched by drones are responsible for many Turkish war crimes - especially in Western Kurdistan/Northern Syria and Southern Kurdistan/Northern Iraq. At the end of June, three women activists Zehra Berkel, Hebûn Mele Xelîl and Amina Waysî were the first victims of an extra-judicial execution by a Turkish attack drone in Kobanê. In Kuna Masî near Sulaymaniyah, two people died a little later, and another eight people were injured, some of them seriously. One of the dead is a member of the Eastern Kurdistan party PJAK.

Several export licences for warheads to Turkey

In 2014 alone, export licences were issued for ten kits for the warheads of long-range anti-tank missiles. According to the relevant war weapons book, a total of ten warheads have been exported to Roketsan since 2010. In 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2018, export licenses for the technology for the production of LRAT warheads were approved by the German government. In 2013 and 2018, the sale of technology for the production of warheads for medium-range anti-tank missiles was approved. Roketsan is an Ankara-based manufacturer of rocket-powered weapon systems. The company was founded in the late 1980s by the State Secretariat for Defence Industry. Most of the shares are held by the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation (TSKGV).

Federal government promotes Turkey's own production

According to the German Government, all licences granted relate exclusively to the supply of components, warheads and technology for the development and production of tandem warheads of LRAT and MRAT anti-tank guided weapons. These warheads are specially designed to be attached to armed drones and to destroy vehicles with ablative armor. The German government claims to have no knowledge of whether Turkey can assemble the weapons itself. This vague statement at least suggests the possibility that German engineers are assembling the war weapons in Turkey.

Weapons for Neo-Ottoman expansionism

In addition to Turkey's wars of aggression in Northern Syria and Southern Kurdistan, which are contrary to international law, the arms deliveries to the Islamist Libyan Muslim Brother Government in Tripoli also play an important role in the question of the whereabouts and operational area of warheads exported from Germany for various types of missiles. Although Libya is under an arms embargo, Turkey supplies large quantities of weapons and military material to Libya and transfers mercenaries and its own troop contingents to the North African civil war country.

The German government delivered the warheads to Turkey under the restriction of an end-use declaration. This means that Ankara undertakes not to pass on these weapons to third parties without the consent of the German government. The obvious question of whether the Federal Government has issued such permits, for example for export to Libya, is not answered by the Ministry of Economics, which points out that it is not obliged to answer. In this way, the Federal Government is bypassing Parliament and the public: weapons are supplied under an end-use certificate, which can be revoked by the Federal Government in the back room.

It is not only Islamists in Libya who are at the top of the list of addressees of Turkish arms deliveries, which in all probability also include war material from Germany. Turkey is upgrading Azerbaijan in the conflict with Armenia and exporting drones equipped with weapons to Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Qatar and Turkmenistan.

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