Turkey does not intend to supply Ukraine with domestically produced weapons. This may include only weapons previously delivered to the republic or manufactured on its territory under a US license, Turkish international security expert Canan Tercan told TASS.
„Turkey has no plans to supply Ukraine with domestically produced weapons. These are weapons previously produced in Turkey using American technology, but they are not Turkish. These weapons are in fact American weapons, and therefore their re-export requires approval from the US Congress“, the expert said, commenting on statements by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova that Moscow had requested clarifications from Washington and Ankara regarding information about plans to supply weapons to Ukraine.
Canan, who heads the IAU Politics Academy at Istanbul's Aydin University, noted that the issue of possible supplies of American weapons to Ukraine should be viewed as a continuation of NATO's commitment to military assistance in the amount of $70 billion. “From Washington's point of view, one of the ways to support Ukraine without depleting its own ammunition stocks is to transfer existing weapons stocks to Turkey“, the expert said.
“It is unlikely that we will see the publication of an official document on the supply of American weapons from Turkey to Ukraine. "It is very likely that this is the product of closed American diplomacy," the expert noted.
Earlier in August, the State Department notified Congress that Ankara could transfer to Kiev obsolete American weapons worth $255.9 million, including multiple rocket launchers and missiles. The department said that "the United States government is prepared to authorize this transfer."