Theresa May signs 100m pound fighter jet deal with Turkey's Erdoğan

Source: The Guardian

Theresa May and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have signed a 100m commitment to build new fighter jets, in a deal Downing Street hopes will see Britain become Turkeys leading defence partner.

Despite concerns about Erdoğans human rights record and the increasingly authoritarian tone of his government, which has locked up thousands of political dissidents and protestors, a Downing Street spokeswoman said the two issues human rights and trade were distinct.

I think those are separate issues; Turkey is an important Nato partner, so our cooperation on both security and defence is in line with that.

She added: The PMs approach is quite clear: she thinks it is important and in the UKs interests to engage with Turkey.



Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/28/theresa-may-signs-100m-fighter-jet-deal-with-turkeys-erdogan

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Because when someone arrests thousands of people for suspected opposition sympathies, and gathers state power to himself, the important thing to tell yourself, and your country, is "screw human rights, this is business".

[div class"excerpt"]Theresa May looks for new friends among the worlds strongmen

Theresa May will discuss trade, defence and security with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkeys president, when she visits Ankara on Saturday, according to Downing Street.

But the meeting, immediately following Mays summit with Donald Trump, conceals a more ambitious, perhaps even desperate British agenda: Mays bid to enhance Britains ties with a club of strongman leaders in the US, Israel, Turkey and Poland as relations fray with key EU players, notably France and Germany.
...
Trump has already broken with Obama by backing the long-proposed Turkish plan for safe havens. Like Britain, as evidenced by Thursdays remarks by the UK foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, Erdoğan has decided to freeze, for now at least, efforts to unseat the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. Johnson would not have changed course without being sure the Trump administration is behind him. Erdoğan can live with the change. Although he reviles Assad, his key aim is an end to US support for Syrias Kurds.

Thus a common US-British-Turkish position on Syria and Assads future appears to be emerging. But the shared ground extends further than that. They agree on the need to defeat Isis. And they are all wary of the consequences of Russia and Irans perceived victory over anti-Assad rebels. Erdoğan mended fences with Vladimir Putin last year and is now supporting the Moscow-led peace process. But like May and Trumps most senior advisers, he does not trust the Russian president.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/27/theresa-may-new-friends-strongmen-erdogan-trump-brexit