Germany to ban arms sales to Saudi Arabia, UAE and Turkey

Social-democratic opposition party Die Linke in Germany parliament urge to arms embargo over Yemen campaign to Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

According to The Independent, the draft bill, proposed by the opposition social democratic party Die Linke, aims to ban weapons exports to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Turkey for their involvement in military conflicts.

The draft, proposed by the social-democratic opposition party Die Linke, focusses mostly on Saudi Arabia and the UAE for their role in the war in Yemen, but it also singles out Turkey for its military mission in northern Syria where the country has been fighting Kurdish forces.

- ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW -

More: Turkey to equip tanks with a new high-tech protection system

Also, the bill will make it illegal to sell arms, expertise and related goods to any other government suspected of using the equipment to abuse human rights.

It specifically refers to previous sales of patrol boats to Saudi Arabia – which have been used to blockade Yemeni ports – and of Leopard tanks to Turkey, which formed part of the country’s military action against the Kurdish YPG groups.

More: Saudi Arabia to buy five Spanish Avante 2200 corvettes

If approved, the law would not only prevent future transactions from being made with these countries but also retroactively recall previously agreed deals.

Readers who wish to follow our weekly coverage can subscribe to the Weekly Defense Roundup.

If you wish to report a grammatical or factual error in this article, please let us know by using the online form.

Executive Editor

Support The Defence Blog

Independent reporting takes resources. Join us on Patreon.

Become a patron

More Like This

Germany and France scale back their joint tank program

Germany and France just reduced one of Europe's most ambitious tank programs to a single, carefully worded sentence about "platform-independent technology," and defense analysts...

Saudi Arabia cleared to buy 20,000 laser-guided rockets

The U.S. State Department approved a possible arms sale to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia worth an estimated $1.96 billion, covering up to 10,000...

Ukraine remains Germany’s top arms customer once again

Germany approved more weapons for export in six months than most countries manage in years, and the country that received the single biggest share...

Germany’s newest fighter jet just made its first flight

A brand new fighter jet lifted off from a runway in Bavaria for the first time this week, and the small crowd watching it...

German firms test a drone boat fired from torpedo tubes

Two German defense companies just proved a submarine can fire a scout instead of a torpedo, completing sea trials of an uncrewed boat small...