ANKARA (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to discuss the pending sale of 40 Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Turkey on Monday when he meets President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.
The visit, Starmer’s first to Turkey since taking office last year, comes as the NATO allies deepen defence cooperation, and as Ankara seeks to leverage the advanced jets to bolster its air power and make up ground on regional rivals including Israel.
Last week Reuters reported, citing a source, that Ankara had proposed to its European allies and the U.S. ways it could swiftly procure advanced fighter jets, amid talks to buy 40 Eurofighter Typhoons as well as U.S. F-16s and F-35s.
A person familiar with the matter said that under a deal it is nearing with Britain on the Typhoons, Turkey would promptly receive 12 of them, albeit used, from previous buyers Qatar and Oman to meet its immediate needs, with 28 new jets coming in future years.
In July, Ankara and London signed a preliminary purchase deal approved by Eurofighter consortium members Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain, represented by Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo.
Last week, Erdogan visited Qatar and Oman in part to discuss the purchase plan.
Erdogan’s office said he and Starmer would also hold talks on bilateral ties and regional and global issues.
(Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun and Ece Toksabay; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Gareth Jones)
