Italy to suspend weapons exports to Turkey
Max Civili
Press TV, Rome
After an EU foreign ministers meeting over Turkey's offensive against Kurdish forces in Syria held in Luxembourg on Monday, Italy's Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio went to report to the Italian parliament about the outcome of the Luxembourg meeting on Tuesday.
Di Maio argued that Ankara's Syrian intervention was having devastating effects on the humanitarian level and that Turkey is solely responsible for the escalation.
Foreign minister Di Maio told the Italian parliament that the government will soon pass a decree to suspend future weapons exports to Turkey. Di Maio also said that the executive will assess existing contracts for arms sales to Ankara.
Italy was the top arms exporter to Turkey last year with a turnover of about 360 million euros. The Leonardo-Finmeccanica multinational aerospace, defense and security company, one of the world's top ten makers of military hardware, has been doing business in Turkey for more than forty years, producing communications equipment for Turkey’s Army and Navy and participating in major civilian and military projects such as high-tech helicopters, anti-submarine warfare and satellite programs. Leonardo-Finmeccanica's largest shareholder is Italy's Ministry of economy with over 30% of the shares.
Economic sanctions against Ankara were also on the table at Monday's Luxembourg meeting but EU foreign ministers opted to stop short of a bloc-wide embargo against Turkey.
Turkey's military intervention into northern Syria, into areas held by Syrian Kurds has been widely condemned.
The United Nations has warned that up to 300,000 people risk being displaced and Daesh fighters put back into circulation.
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