United Kingdom:- British
Prime Minister Theresa May signed a $125 million defense equipment deal with
Turkey on Saturday and promised to push for more trade between the NATO allies,
while cautioning Ankara on human rights following last year's failed coup. May,
in Turkey after a trip to Washington where she met U.S. President Donald.
Trump,
visited both countries for the first time as prime minister, promoting trade
agreements to strengthen her hand in negotiations to leave the European Union.
Speaking
to reporters at the presidential palace in Ankara alongside President Tayyip
Erdogan, May called Turkey one of Britain's oldest friends and briefly touched
on human rights, a sore point for Erdogan, who accuses the West of not showing
enough solidarity following the July 15 military putsch attempt.
"I'm
proud that the UK stood with you on the 15 July last year in defense of
democracy and now it is important that Turkey sustains that democracy by
maintaining the rule of law and upholding its international human rights
obligations as the government has undertaken to do," she said.Rights
groups and some Western politicians have been more critical. More than 100,000
people have been sacked or suspended following the failed coup and some 40,000
jailed pending trial.
Ankara
says the measures are needed to root out supporters of the putsch.At a joint
news conference later with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, May also avoided
criticizing Trump's sweeping ban on people seeking refuge in the United States,
saying Washington was responsible for its policies on refugees. May has previously said the nature of the
"special relationship" between
Britain and the United States
meant the allies could speak frankly to each other when they disagreed.
In
her Turkey visit, as in the United States, it was clear May's priority was on
securing trade. She said the UK and Turkey had agreed to form a joint working
group for post-Brexit trade and would step up an aviation security program.
--------------------------------'OPEN FOR BUSINESS'----------------------------------
The
two countries signed a defense deal worth more than 100 million pounds ($125
million) to develop Turkish fighter jets.May said the deal, which involves BAE
Systems and TAI(Turkish Aerospace Industries) working together to develop the
TF-X Turkish fighter program, showed "Britain is a great, global, trading
nation and that we are open for business".
Yildirim
said the two countries plan to sign a free-trade deal once Britain leaves the
European Union, while Erdogan told reporters that he discussed steps towards defense
industry cooperation with May, and that he hoped to increase annual trade with
Britain to $20 billion from $15.6 billion now.
May's
government is keen to start laying the groundwork for bilateral trade
agreements for when Britain leaves the European Union, a process that will take
at least two years after triggering the formal divorce talks by the end of
March. May's spokeswoman has said Turkey would be the 13th country to set up a
working group on trade with Britain.
The
United Kingdom was the No. 2 destination for Turkish exports in 2015, buying
$10.6 billion in goods, according to IMF trade data. Only Germany imports more
from Turkey.The countries also discussed the fight against militant groups.
Yildirim said he requested legal action against supporters of the coup, who he
said are active in Britain.
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