Canada to Re-start Türkiye Arms Exports after Sweden NATO Backing

FILE PHOTO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at a press conference during a NATO summit in Madrid, Spain June 30, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at a press conference during a NATO summit in Madrid, Spain June 30, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
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Canada to Re-start Türkiye Arms Exports after Sweden NATO Backing

FILE PHOTO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at a press conference during a NATO summit in Madrid, Spain June 30, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at a press conference during a NATO summit in Madrid, Spain June 30, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo

Canada and Türkiye have reached a deal to restart Canadian exports of drone parts in exchange for more transparency on where they are used, and it would take effect after Ankara completes its ratification of Sweden's NATO bid, two sources told Reuters.
After 20 months of delay, Türkiye moved swiftly this week to endorse Sweden's membership in the western military alliance, including a parliamentary vote and presidential sign-off, leaving Hungary as the sole ally yet to ratify it.
Türkiye is expected to send the final documents to Washington as soon as Friday, which would clear the way for Canada to immediately lift the export controls that it adopted in 2020, the two sources said, requesting anonymity.
The agreement was reached in early January after months of talks, said one person familiar with the process. A second person familiar with the plan said the sides agreed it would take effect after Sweden's ratification was complete.
Türkiye’s foreign ministry declined to comment.
Canadian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Charlotte MacLeod told Reuters that while the export controls currently remained in place, Ottawa aimed to resolve the issue with Türkiye given its status as a NATO ally.
"Canada and Türkiye continue to engage in frank exchanges on our bilateral, economic and commercial relations," she said.
Sweden's lengthy bid process frustrated some NATO members over what they viewed as Türkiye’s transactional approach, which led to concessions from Stockholm and other allies regarding arms exports and counterterrorism measures.
US leaders have said Türkiye’s ratification of Sweden's NATO membership clears the way for Ankara's long-sought purchase of US F-16 fighter jets.
Canada suspended drone technology sales to Türkiye in 2020 after concluding its optical equipment attached to Turkish-made drones had been used by Azerbaijan while fighting ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno Karabakh, an enclave Baku has since retaken.
Ottawa halted talks on lifting them in 2022 when Ankara raised objections to both Finland and Sweden's NATO bids. But it re-started talks after a NATO leaders summit in July last year, Reuters reported at the time.
END-USER TRANSPARENCY
Under the agreement, Ankara would provide Ottawa information on the end-users of Canadian-made equipment, especially if re-exported to non-NATO members, the sources said.
The "notification process", standard under the international arms trade, covers Wescam sensors used in Türkiye’s Bayraktar TB2 drones and other dual-use goods and arms-related exports.
The first source said the deal improves transparency and communication between the sides and aims to avoid disagreement as in 2021, when Canada said Azerbaijan's use of the camera equipment violated Türkiye’s end-user assurances.
Ankara has repeatedly criticized export controls as contrary to the spirit of the NATO alliance. In the past it also faced trade embargoes by France, Germany and Sweden over tensions in the eastern Mediterranean and its operations in northern Syria.
While Ankara has called on Canada to lift the restrictions, it has also said that it will soon be able to produce the drone parts it imports, including optical equipment, on its own. Several countries, including Ukraine, Ethiopia and Pakistan, have bought Turkish drones after their battlefield successes.
On Tuesday, Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry said it hosted Canada's associate deputy foreign minister, Cindy Termorshuizen, for talks on "regional and international issues", without elaborating.
On Friday, President Tayyip Erdogan said Türkiye’s ratification of Sweden was welcomed by "Canada, Sweden, and all Western countries", and was viewed as a source of strength within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Under NATO rules, Türkiye must deposit the final document - the instrument of ratification - at the US State Department archives to complete its Sweden ratification.
Canada was the first NATO country to ratify the entry bid Sweden made in 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.



Trump Says it Might Be Better to Let Ukraine and Russia 'Fight for a While'

05 June 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump (R) meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa Pool/dpa
05 June 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump (R) meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa Pool/dpa
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Trump Says it Might Be Better to Let Ukraine and Russia 'Fight for a While'

05 June 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump (R) meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa Pool/dpa
05 June 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump (R) meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa Pool/dpa

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” before pulling them apart and pursuing peace.

In an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump likened the war in Ukraine — which Russia invaded in early 2022 — to a fight between two young children who hated each other.

“Sometimes you’re better off letting them a fight for a while and then pulling them apart," Trump said. He added that he had relayed that analogy to Russian President Vladimir Putin in their phone conversation on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.

Asked about Trump's comments as the two leaders sat next to each other, Merz stressed that both he and Trump agreed “on this war and how terrible this war is going on,” pointing to the US president as the “key person in the world” who would be able to stop the bloodshed.

But Merz also emphasized that Germany “was on the side of Ukraine” and that Kyiv was only attacking military targets, not Russian civilians.

“We are trying to get them stronger,” Merz said of Ukraine.

Thursday's meeting marked the first time that the two leaders sat down in person. After exchanging pleasantries — Merz gave Trump a gold-framed birth certificate of the US president's grandfather Friedrich Trump, who immigrated from Germany — the two leaders were to discuss issues such as Ukraine, trade and NATO spending.

Trump and Merz have spoken several times by phone, either bilaterally or with other European leaders, since Merz took office on May 6. German officials say the two leaders have started to build a “decent” relationship, with Merz wanting to avoid the antagonism that defined Trump's relationship with one of his predecessors, Angela Merkel, in the Republican president's first term.

The 69-year-old Merz — who came to office with an extensive business background — is a conservative former rival of Merkel's who took over her party after she retired from politics.

A White House official said topics that Trump is likely to raise with Merz include Germany’s defense spending, trade, Ukraine and what the official called “democratic backsliding," saying the administration's view is that shared values such as freedom of speech have deteriorated in Germany and the country should reverse course. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the discussions.

But Merz told reporters Thursday morning that if Trump wanted to talk German domestic politics, he was ready to do that but he also stressed Germany holds back when it comes to American domestic politics.