Turkey and South Korea have signed a record $1 billion defense deal for the procurement of howitzers, reported the Turkish Daily News.
The signing of the deal in Seoul, said the paper, showed Turkey's determination to diversify its arms suppliers in the face of ongoing technology transfer restrictions imposed by some of its allies due to Ankara's poor human rights record.
The Ankara-Seoul deal became a possibility when Germany earlier refused to transfer vital howitzer technology to Turkey.
As Turkey has been going through a deep economic crisis, it remains unclear how this $1 billion defense deal will be financed, said the paper – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
