pic: bruninginternational.com
Turkey’s ambassador expressed how disappointed he was in Sweden yesterday, and today he’s sure to be even more disappointed: The government decided today to stop all war materiel exports to Turkey. Sweden’s exports to Turkey have already been discussed here, but to recap, the numbers regarding how much Swedish exports, what it exports, and in what year, differ.
According to Sweden’s Inspection for Strategic Products (ISP, or Inspektionen för strategiska produkter) Sweden has no weapons system exports to Turkey, but has exported some gunpowder and other explosives (DN.se/weapons). These exports were part of agreements made several years ago, that Swedish companies will now renege on. No new agreements have been signed on war materiel since 2017.
The most part of the shipments were, according to SvD, other things like electronics, plating, machine parts, programs and technical assistance. Also, as Expressen already reported, things like bandages and first aid kits were a part of the exports.
Whatever they were, they aren’t anymore. Things are moving very fast in Syria, and surprisingly fast in Sweden as well. Everyone’s mad at Turkey, so decisions like these are admittedly low-hanging fruit, and Erdogan’s fans don’t vote here. Sweden will continue to work towards an EU-wide ban of war materiel exports, no doubt making the Turkish ambassador still more disappointed.