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  • Turkey expects German OK if tank firm wins order (Feb. 15)

Leopard IIA6 Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said that he expected Germany to approve the export of tanks if defense company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann beat off the competition in a tender. 

Cem, in Berlin for talks with his German counterpart Joschka Fischer, told reporters that under Turkish law, firms could take part in a tender only if their governments were ready to approve exports. 

His remarks followed a row last year between Germany's center-left coalition partners over the export of a single Leopard II tank for testing purposes. Turkey wants to build 1,000 tanks under license in a deal worth up to $8 billion. 

The Greens party, junior partners in Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrat-led coalition, opposed delivery of the single tank because of Turkey's mixed human rights record. 

The Berlin government has since said delivery of the tank did not mean Germany would necessarily approve the entire deal if Krauss-Maffei Wegmann won against competition from the United States, France, Italy and Ukraine. Fischer said he had not discussed the tank issue with Cem. "The German government has not changed its position," Fischer said, adding he welcomed Turkey's efforts to bring about a "Europeanisation in all fields."  

Turkey wants to reach an agreement by the end of July covering the first 250 tanks.

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