Starmer’s announcement on visit to Ankara comes as jailed opposition leader Ekrem İmamoğlu faces fresh charges
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.
