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(March
20)
Turkey will not accept any conditions on the use of 1,000 tanks it plans
to buy for its armed forces, Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu said
Monday.
Turkey would not be told when or where it could use the tanks, Anatolia
news agency quoted him saying.
Turkey has a tender out for the 1,000 tanks and five companies are
bidding for the seven billion dollar project which is expected to be
awarded in July.
They are German arms maker Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, General Dynamics of
the United States, GIAT of France, Ukrspetseksport from Ukraine, and
Iveco and Auto Breda from Italy.
Cakmakoglu is to have talks later Monday with Ukraine Foreign Minister
Boris Tarasyuk, who is making his first official visit to Turkey.
On Friday the German foreign ministry said it had received a request for
export approval for 1,000 Leopard-2 tanks to Turkey. But the ministry
stressed this did not mean a decision had already been taken by Ankara.
Germany's Greens, part of the ruling coalition government, have raised
questions about the tank contract and Turkey's human rights record. (Defense
and Aerospace)

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