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Britain has agreed to sell 20 Typhoon fighter jets to Turkey in an £8bn deal despite concerns about alleged human rights violations by its government.
Keir Starmer signed the deal during a visit on Monday to Ankara to meet the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The prime minister said the deal would boost the Nato alliance, despite criticism of Turkey’s increasingly authoritarian administration.
The deal was signed as Erdoğan’s jailed chief political opponent, Ekrem İmamoğlu, faced fresh charges including alleged links to British intelligence.
The jet, also known as the Eurofighter, is a joint project between the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, and has been one of the Royal Air Force’s key aircraft for two decades, including in Iraq, and intercepting Russian planes since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The order comes after the managing director of the Typhoon programme, Richard Hamilton, told reporters in July that he was “really confident” of receiving export orders to preserve the Warton production line in Lancashire.
Starmer described the deal as a landmark agreement and “a win for British workers, a win for our defence industry, and a win for Nato security”.
BAE Systems will assemble Turkey’s jets in the UK and the first delivery is expected in 2030. The order will secure the jobs of about 500 workers at the company’s Warton site and benefit a facility making front fuselages at Samlesbury, 12 miles (20km) to the east. It will also give work to factories across Europe, where partner countries make sections of the aircraft.
The UK’s desire to drum up export orders to help economic growth has, however, meant overlooking concerns about some of its buyers’ human rights records.
Erdoğan’s critics have condemned the fresh charges against İmamoğlu as a blatant attempt to keep the president’s chief rival out of Turkish politics. The former mayor of Istanbul has been in jail since March on corruption charges.
İmamoğlu denied the latest charges, writing on X: “Such slander, lies and conspiracy wouldn’t even cross the devil’s mind. We are facing shameful immorality that can’t be described with words.”
An Istanbul court has issued an arrest order against him and two others – Merdan Yanardağ, the editor-in-chief of the television news channel Tele1, and İmamoğlu’s former campaign manager Necati Özkan.
The trio are accused of links with a fourth man, Hüseyin Gün, who in turn is accused of conducting espionage activities on behalf of foreign states, including holding meetings with the former head of MI6 Richard Moore. Before running the UK overseas intelligence services, Moore was the UK ambassador to Turkey.
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Amnesty International UK’s foreign affairs director, Polly Truscott, called on Starmer to question “the disturbing state of human rights in Turkey and to ensure UK business dealings don’t exacerbate or provide diplomatic cover for human rights abuses”. That includes the threat of possible legal changes to criminalise same-sex marriage.
“While negotiations on this multi-billion-pound sale take place, a massive crackdown on human rights is taking place in the country,” she said. “The main opposition party is facing relentless attacks. Its presidential candidate and mayor of Istanbul Ekrem İmamoğlu and his campaign director have also been remanded on ‘espionage’ charges.”
A spokesperson for the prime minister said: “We have raised the arrests, including that of the Istanbul mayor and protesters, with the Turkish government at a number of levels. The UK is a staunch supporter of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”
Starmer focused on Turkey’s role as a Nato member amid increased concern about Russia’s plans. “At either ends of Europe, the UK and Turkey are vital to tackling the challenges of our time and this will allow our armed forces to work even closer together as we deter threats and protect our national interests,” he said.
The Typhoon is also operated by Austria, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The sale of the jet to Riyadh only came after Germany dropped concerns about human rights that were highlighted by the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. US intelligence agencies came to the conclusion that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, had approved the murder.
BAE’s chief executive, Charles Woodburn, said: “Typhoon is an export success story and demonstrates how investment in defence can fuel significant economic growth and returns across the UK. Today’s announcement extends Typhoon production and preserves crucial sovereign skills which underpin the UK’s defence and security.”
