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full screen Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed the approval of Sweden’s NATO application last week. On Monday, Canada announced the lifting of the arms embargo against Turkey, which was one of the conditions for Erdogan to approve Sweden. Archive image. Photo: Denes Erdos/AP/TT
Canada announced on Monday that it is lifting the embargo against Turkey that has stopped the export of certain weapons to the country.
The announcement comes a week after Turkey approved Sweden’s application to NATO.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had made approval of the Swedish application conditional on, among other things, that Turkey would be allowed to buy the F-16 fighter jet from the United States and also that Canada and other EU countries would lift their arms embargo against Turkey.
Canada halted the export of some weapons to Turkey in April 2021 after an investigation found that drone technology exported to Turkey had been used by Azerbaijan in clashes with Armenia.
The export ban included several military products and technology including components intended for aircraft manufacturing, software for flight simulators and satellite equipment.
From now on, Canada will require the Turkish importer to provide assurances regarding the use of the weapons and also government accounts that “clearly show whether the products will be re-exported or transferred to a non-NATO country”.