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

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.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Saturday that China's largest coastguard vessel has anchored in Manila's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea, and is meant to intimidate its smaller Asian neighbor.

The China coastguard's 165-meter "monster ship" entered Manila's 200-nautical mile EEZ on July 2, spokesperson for the PCG Jay Tarriela told a news forum.

The PCG warned the Chinese vessel it was in the Philippine's EEZ and asked about their intentions, he said.

"It's an intimidation on the part of the China Coast Guard," Tarriela said. "We're not going to pull out and we're not going to be intimidated."

China's embassy in Manila and the Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China's coast guard has no publicly available contact information.

The Chinese ship, which has also deployed a small boat, was anchored 800 yards away from the PCG's vessel, Tarriela said.

In May, the PCG deployed a ship to the Sabina shoal to deter small-scale reclamation by China, which denied the claim. China has carried out extensive land reclamation on some islands in the South China Sea, building air force and other military facilities, causing concern in Washington and around the region.

China claims most of the South China Sea, a key conduit for $3 trillion of annual ship-borne trade, as its own territory. Beijing rejects the 2016 ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration which said its expansive maritime claims had no legal basis.

Following a high-level dialogue, the Philippines and China agreed on Tuesday for the need to "restore trust" and "rebuild confidence" to better manage maritime disputes.

The Philippines has turned down offers from the United States, its treaty ally, to assist operations in the South China Sea, despite a flare-up with China over routing resupply missions to Filipino troops on a contested shoal.

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