Two soldiers at an Armenian military compound with a wing of a downed Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone and the Canadian-made L3 Harris Wescam airstrike targeting gear on Oct. 29, 2020.Neil Hauer/The Globe and Mail
Canada has reportedly agreed to resume military exports to Turkey – specifically air-strike targeting gear used on military drones – less than 3½ years after Ottawa halted shipments in the wake of Ankara’s illegal diversion of this technology to help ally Azerbaijan fight Armenians.
Armenian Canadians condemned the reports of a deal, calling such an agreement reckless and a threat to Armenia.
Reuters reported from Turkey on Friday that Ottawa and Ankara have reached a deal to restart exports of the L3Harris Wescam targeting equipment. It was designed to take effect after Turkey completed ratification of Sweden’s application to join the NATO military alliance. Stockholm first applied 20 months ago but Turkey, a NATO member country, had balked at approving it.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly’s office declined comment Friday on the question of resuming exports of air-strike targeting gear to Turkey. Her director of communications, Emily Williams, directed reporters to comments provided days earlier from the Department of Global Affairs that said Ottawa was looking to resolve the matter.
Canada first imposed what is effectively a ban on arms sales in 2019 after Turkish forces mounted an incursion into northern Syria.
In a much-criticized move, Ottawa nevertheless allowed the shipment of some military goods to Turkey – the Canadian-made air-strike targeting gear – but the Turkish government misled Canada on its ultimate purpose and redirected drones equipped with the optical technology to Ankara’s ally, Azerbaijan. The country used it to target Armenians in the 2020 conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. In early October of that year, Ottawa then suspended export permits to Turkey for the gear.
Media reports from Turkey in July first suggested that Canada had agreed to lift, or discuss lifting, an arms embargo on Ankara in the wake of the Lithuania NATO summit where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dropped his opposition to allowing Sweden to join the military alliance. It was reportedly part of concessions offered by a number of countries to Turkey.
Canada won’t say if it’s in talks to lift ban on arms sales to Turkey
At the time, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office said in a statement that the export controls on Turkey were imposed “for important reasons” and remained in place but added it would prefer no barriers to trade among allies.
Government records released in 2021 to a parliamentary committee probing this matter revealed that Turkey did not use the air-strike targeting gear as it said it would. Ottawa issued export permits for this equipment to be shipped to Turkey in 2020 after assurances from Turkish officials that it would only be used to protect civilians under attack in Syria, documents showed.
The Globe and Mail was the first to report that, despite the arms embargo, the Department of Global Affairs’ export controls division in May, 2020, issued permits enabling L3Harris Wescam, based in Waterdown, Ont., to ship seven MX-15D imaging and targeting systems to Turkish drone maker Baykar. The devices were valued at more than $1-million each.
In 2021, Canadian government documents released to MPs showed the serial number on Canadian-made air-strike targeting gear that turned up in the 2020 Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict matched that of restricted military equipment Ottawa had approved for export to the Turkish navy.
Ottawa is required under Canadian law and under the international Arms Trade Treaty to prevent, detect and stop the diversion of military goods to users other than intended customers.
The Armenian National Committee of Canada, in a statement provided by executive director Sevag Belian, urged Ottawa to reconsider what it has done to help Turkey, which has backed Azerbaijan and supplied it with weapons.
“By lifting the arms embargo, Canada will only embolden President Erdogan’s regime and once again risk complicity in crimes perpetrated and sponsored by the Turkish government, endangering the lives of Armenians as well as other populations in the region,” the committee said.
“Such a move sends a troubling messages to the international community and undermines Canada’s commitment to human rights, peace and justice.”
The Armenian-Canadian group said Turkey under Mr. Erdogan “has consistently shown disregard for human rights, democratic values” and said removing the arms embargo ignores the “ongoing aggression and human-rights violations perpetrated and supported by Turkey against various populations,” including Armenians.
The Turkish embassy in Ottawa did not immediately return a request for comment and Ms. Joly’s office did not respond when asked whether it had a reply to the Armenian-Canadian organization.
Reuters said the deal between Ottawa and Ankara includes a commitment to provide Ottawa information on the end users of Canadian-made equipment, especially if re-exported to non-NATO members, the sources said.
Arms-controls experts said this reversal by Canada reveals “the lack of objectivity” in the way Ottawa polices military exports.
Kelsey Gallagher, a researcher with Project Ploughshares, based in Waterloo, Ont., said the assurances Ankara is reportedly going to provide Ottawa are already supposed to be disclosed to Canada under existing arms-transfer rules.
“The news of these additional end-use assurances would be welcome if such provisions weren’t required in the first place.”
He said Canada’s arm-control obligations “do not permit officials to sign off on arms exports that are evidently risky, but politically expedient” and noted Turkey’s “record of brazenly diverting Canadian weapon systems.”
With reports from Reuters
Steven Chase