Türkiye must be included in all of Europe's defense structures and defence trade restrictions between NATO members must be removed, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday ahead of a key NATO summit.
His remarks come as Europe revamps its defenses to counter Russia and the risk of a US pullback from NATO, which is to hold a summit in the Turkish capital Ankara on July 7-8.
"Türkiye's indispensable contributions to European security are sometimes overlooked," Erdogan told parliamentary delegates from all 32 NATO member states in Istanbul. He said Türkiye wanted "to participate in all defense and security initiatives" on the continent.
At issue is Türkiye's access to the European Union's 150-billion-euro ($176-billion) Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative, intended to strengthen European defense capabilities.
"We expect your support, lawmakers, for Türkiye's inclusion in the defense and security initiatives announced by the European Union," Erdogan told them.
Within SAFE, firms from non-EU countries such as Türkiye, Britain and the United States can only supply up to 35 percent of the component costs of weaponry funded by the scheme.
If Türkiye wants its companies to be able to tap a bigger part of the funds Ankara needs to sign a security partnership with the EU and then negotiate special access with Brussels -- a process that would require approval from all 27 EU members. Greece has threatened to block such a move.
"Under SAFE, any third country can participate in a defense project up to a level of 35 percent. Any negotiations with a view to potentially increasing or lifting this 35 per cent cap ... would require a bilateral agreement," said Thomas Regnier, a European Commission spokesperson.
"For now, this is not an agreement we have concluded with Türkiye."
- 'Remove the obstacles' -
Erdogan also urged NATO to remove all barriers blocking defense industry trade between alliance members.
"If we want to overcome the challenges we face, we need to remove obstacles to defense industry trade while ensuring a balanced and fair burden-sharing among allies," he said.
Türkiye has the second-biggest army of the alliance after the United States and a burgeoning defense industry which has gone from strength to strength fueled by bilateral defense deals.
But its defense industry has been hit by US sanctions imposed over Ankara's purchase of an S-400 Russian surface-to-air missile defense system. Washington also booted Türkiye out of its F-35 program, in a move that has soured relations between the NATO allies.
Although Washington has expressed a desire to draw a line under the dispute, lifting the sanctions requires Congressional approval. Observers say there is little chance the showdown would be resolved before the summit.
US President Donald Trump has however pledged to give Erdogan something that would make him "very happy" when he flies in next week for the NATO gathering.
Analysts said it was likely to be a delivery of several dozen US-made F110 engines Türkiye needs for its fifth-generation KAAN fighter jets that are under development. Delivery of the engines had been blocked since the imposition of the US sanctions.
