Kerry McCarthy Labour MP for Bristol East
France, Germany and the Netherlands have, quite rightly, halted arm sales to Turkey, following the appalling attacks on the Kurds in north-eastern Syria. The U.K., one of the world’s biggest arms exporters, has shamefully failed to follow suit. UK arms licensing law is clear that licences should not be granted for the sale of arms which will be used for internal repression or external aggression, and as is it is clear that Turkey is waging an aggressive war, the arms sales should be halted immediately.
We should not only be halting arms sales to the Turkish regime, we should also be exploring economic sanctions, travel bans and the suspension of Turkey’s NATO membership.