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As EU ties chill, UK-Turkey defense cooperation thrives

While relations between the United Kingdom and Turkey are still strained, cooperation between the two countries on defense and aerospace projects is flourishing.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan shakes hands with Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, January 28, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - LR1ED1S12NA6O

At a London seminar at the end of June, a senior British diplomat responded to Al-Monitor's questions about the implications of Prime Minister Theresa May’s unexpected visit to Ankara in January 2017 and other overt signs of rapprochement between Britain and Turkey. He started off by saying, “History repeats itself,” and continued, “Just as in 1580s, when England and the Ottoman Empire entered into economic and security cooperation against the Catholic bloc in continental Europe, today the same dynamics stimulated the cooperation between Turkey and England.”

Defense, the aerospace industry and security are the most visible fields of cooperation between the two countries. May, who on Jan. 28 became the first high-level European leader to visit Turkey after the July 2016 coup attempt, witnessed the signing of a critical 100 million-pound ($135 million) contract between the British defense and aerospace company BAE Systems and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS). The two companies will cooperate in developing the engine, avionics, radar and software for the fifth generation TF-X Turkish stealth warplane project.

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