In the United Kingdom Theresa May denounces immigrants while demanding a hard Brexit with no parliamentary oversight to tie her hands. In Turkey – after an election rerun and a faultily attempted coup – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan continues to purge all opposition and seize control of media outlets as his presidential ambitions gather pace. What can bring two despotic nationalists on the margins of the European Union together? Dodgy defence deals of course!
In a move that has been described as ‘a big boon for ISIS’ – but which should at least furnish the UK’s impeccably styled Prime Minister with a few more pairs of leather pants – Theresa May announced on Saturday a £100 million defence deal to help Turkey bomb the Kurds.
The deal was announced during a meeting in Ankara with President Erdoğan, although Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım was also present, presumably serving the tea or whimpering in the corner after being appointed last spring to serve as Erdoğan’s stooge.
It will see BAE systems, in collaboration with Turkish Aerospace Industries, develop fighter jets for the Turkish air force. But a single fighter jet alone can easily cost close to £100 million. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II – the major project of the United States military, expected to provide the bulk of its airpower for decades with a projected service life up to 2070, and developed with support from the United Kingdom, Turkey, and other US allies – has routinely cost in excess of $100 million across early production batches.
So although she professed quite the opposite, a £100 million defence deal with an overzealous would-be dictator hardly ‘underlines once again that Britain is a great, global trading nation’. Instead it once again exposes Theresa May and Brexit as vacuous, unscrupulous, money-grubbing jokes.
Perhaps the £100 million will be spread over the wings of several jets, or serve to improve the quality of their in-flight food? Whatever, May’s visit completed a whistle-stop tour of the world’s most modern despots, coming hot on the heels of her first White House dalliance with Donald Trump. Where will she turn with her cap in hand next?
While campaign groups condemned Turkey’s recent human rights record, back home in England Nigel Farage and UKIP were left wondering whether this was all a ruse, allowing the horde of benefit-scrounging Turks who came to characterise their ‘Leave’ manifesto into the country on planes we helped them build. Perhaps outside of the EU the future will be bleaker after all?
