The Ministry of Defense has defended the advance request related to arms exports to Turkey even after Turkey carried out airstrikes in Syria at the end of November. According to one of ‘s sources, the Ministry of Defense gave its latest statement in favor of the preliminary opinion request for arms exports in December.
Minister of Defense Antti Kaikkonen (central) said on Thursday at his press conference about his visit to Turkey that “in the past few months, a few export projects to Turkey have received the initial green light in the form of a preliminary statement”.
According to ‘s information, there are five or fewer advocates for advance requests.
Turkey has demanded that Finland and Sweden, in connection with their application for NATO membership, lift the arms export bans on Turkey. There is no formal export ban, but Finland stopped issuing new permits at the end of 2019.
Turkey has not yet accepted Finland’s membership in the military alliance NATO. From the point of view of NATO membership, it is in Finland’s interest to tell Turkey that the Ministry of Defense has given positive preliminary statements about arms export projects. In general, the Ministry of Defense does not disclose its attitude to requests for statements to the public or even to the considered export country.
Puolto is a message to Turkey and Finnish companies
In addition to the fact that announcing a positive attitude is a message to Turkey, it is also a message to the Finnish arms industry. The statements in favor tell all companies that it may be possible to trade defense material with Turkey again.
Turkey carried out more extensive airstrikes than usual on the Kurdish areas of northern Syria and Iraq in late November. The attack in Turkey was characterized as revenge for the previous terrorist attack in Istanbul. Turkey blamed the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish armed movement YPG operating in Syria for the attack in Istanbul.
Turkey has regularly bombed northern Syria in the past. It also occupies some areas in northern Syria together with its local allies. Turkey has also hinted at launching a new ground offensive.
In 2019, Finland and several other EU countries therefore tightened their arms export policy regarding Turkey. The Ministry of Defense announced in October 2019 that Finland has suspended the granting of new arms export licenses to Turkey. The alignment was caused by Turkey’s ground attack on the Kurdish areas of northern Syria in October 2019.
Sweden announced at the end of September this year that there are no obstacles to arms exports to Turkey. The local authority (ISP) said that, for example, the export of electronics, software or technical assistance is possible.
Requests for statements are hardly about lethal weapons
According to another source, the preliminary statements supported by the Ministry of Defense would be about products that require an export permit other than lethal weapons. has not received confirmation of the information from the individual sources of this story from other sources.
Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen estimated on Thursday that some arms export licenses to Turkey may be granted in the future. “But the permits depend on what type of permits Finnish companies may apply for”.
However, the positive attitude of the Ministry of Defense to the preliminary opinion request does not automatically mean the granting of an export permit.
In the consideration of advance statements and actual export permits, in addition to the destination country, the defense material the application applies to has great weight. When the Ministry of Defense responds to requests for preliminary statements, the evaluation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on foreign and security policy perspectives is also included in the consideration.
Companies have previously exported from Finland to Turkey, for example, shielding steel, optics and supplies for identifying various toxic chemical, biological or radioactive substances.
In recent years, the export of cartridges and protective steel has been denied
At the end of 2019, the Ministry of Defense denied an export permit for the export of Nammo Lapua precision shooting cartridges. Similarly, in 2021, the Miilux company’s application for the export of protection steel was rejected.
After the tightening of the 2019 arms export guidelines, one new arms export permit has been granted to Turkey. In May of this year, Patria received permission to export the technology and drawings of armored wheeled vehicles in order to identify a possible subcontractor. So it wasn’t about direct arms exports.
In the summer of 2021, PIA, the interest organization of the defense and aviation industry, estimates that negative permit decisions or preliminary statements have led to export losses of more than 700 million euros in 2020 – 2021, if all export projects had been realized. In 2020, the industry’s realized arms export under export license was a total of 80 million euros.
Expert: Turkey has been a risky target country for arms exports
Last year, Finland exported weapons to 69 different countries. The largest arms exporting countries were in Europe, but there is also some kind of export to countries further away such as Brazil, India and Canada.
Different weapons are sold to different countries, because what one wants to buy varies, an arms export expert Kari Paasonen says. He is doing postgraduate studies at the University of Tampere’s Center for Peace and Conflict Studies.
Paasonen does not yet know what kind of products’ preliminary opinions have been requested, and therefore comments on the matter on a general level.
When an arms trade takes place with a country, it always strengthens and develops the military capabilities of the buyer country. At the same time, arms export is foreign policy. It is affected by various issues, such as human rights, or whether arms exports are linked to conflicts or regional security.
Because of this, for example, the sale of rifle cartridges has different problems than the sale of non-lethal products.
According to Paasonen, the arms export license is of course also a political message that Finland considers the receiving state to be sufficiently responsible and reliable.
– Based on history, Turkey is in many ways a risky target country for arms exports. Turkey’s attack on Syria in 2019 showed that we cannot know in the future what Turkey would use the equipment it acquired from Finland for, he says.
– If Turkey decides to buy something from Finland, it has considered the products manufactured in Finland to be the most suitable for its purpose. Something that fits the need as well may not be available elsewhere.
NATO is a military alliance, and it requires a certain kind of cooperation from its members. However, it does not mean that countries should be ready to grant arms export licenses in any situation.
However, applying for NATO membership or being a member of a military alliance can influence decisions on arms exports.
– Then there can also be a higher threshold for negative export permit decisions to be made, says Kari Paasonen.
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