Turkish defense deal brought under scrutiny

Parliamentary committee launches probe into contract

By Burak Bekdil - Kathimerini English Edition

Sometimes Turkish affairs are predictable. This is how, on May 27, Ankara Confidential, referring to a corruption trial involving dozens of doctors and businessmen and hundreds of millions of dollars, closed: “… one can always rely on miracles in Turkey. Mr Aldan (the prosecutor) may be removed from the case. The defendants could be released at the first trial, and the blockade on their assets could be removed. In a year or so they may be acquitted on all charges despite more than 50 folders of solid evidence. And Professor Oral (one of the defendants and Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash’s cardiologist) could continue to cure Mr Denktash’s ailing heart. Would that be any surprise in the land of surprises?”

Apparently not. Exactly one month after the above predictions were published – on June 27 – a Turkish court released all of the defendants under detention at the first trial, Professor Oral included. The defendants joyfully paid $100,000 bail each, and that left no one behind the bars in the Turkish maxi-trial.

All the same, there is always room for surprises in Turkey, humorous or serious. Recently a non-government organization called the Association to Fight Corruption was hit by an in-house tremor – and over corruption. Apparently, its deputy director is accusing other officials over the disappearance of desks, chairs and filing cabinets from the building.

More interestingly, perhaps, a parliamentary committee, for the first time in Turkish history, has launched an investigation against a defense contract – and quite a sizable one. Parliament’s anti-corruption committee has cut a $1.6 billion deal with Boeing Co. for the purchase of four airborne early warning and control (AWAC) aircraft under scrutiny. Or, more realistically, it is trying to do so.

After two-and-a-half years of tiring contract negotiations, Turkey’s top defense procurement panel – consisting of government and military leaders – finally gave its nod for the deal in April. The lawmakers are now seeking explanations for the 60 percent rise in the price tag.

They are particularly skeptical about the exorbitant escalation of the contract price over the years and the interest rates charged for the financing package attached to the deal. Someone, they argue, should stand up and explain why what would have cost Turkey $1 billion a few years earlier will now cost $1.6 billion – and justify a genuine need for the spending.

At the outset, the probe is part of the government’s push for transparency in defense deals – a prerequisite, along with other reforms to diminish the role of the military in the political/administrative makeup, to meet the EU political criteria. But it is an open secret in Ankara that the probe is the result of a tug of war between Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist government and the staunchly secularist military. It is part of the government’s efforts to corner the military through perfectly justifiable means. Who could object to an anti-corruption probe, and on what grounds?

But presently lawmakers and defense officials are wrestling over access to information. Recently, the committee asked procurement officials to deliver official papers on the deal. It could only get a polite no. The defense procurement office turned down the request, citing a commercial secrecy clause in the contract. And what happens now?

If things get worse, the military command will argue that the program has been run by a civilian agency and the civilian agency will throw the hot potato into the hands of the air force and the air force will of course throw it back to the civilian agency. Of course, there is always the possibility that the top brass may cite “national security deliberations” to close the file.

Although there is quite a rich list of controversial defense deals, prime targets for future investigations are a $688 million deal with Israeli Military Industries for the upgrade of an initial batch of 170 M60A1 battle tanks, and a $240 million contract – not yet closed – with BAE Systems and the Ankara-based Aselsan for the supply of electronic countermeasures systems for a fleet of 80 F-16 fighter jets.

No matter how shady their own dealings have been, Prime Minister Erdogan and his men must be encouraged to bring defense contracts under the spotlight. Turkey has spent an average $3 billion a year in new war toys over the past decade. So far, it has been one of the routine jobs of Turkish governments to put their stamp on every defense deal without questioning either the justification of the need, or its finances. Perhaps it is time someone came up with a better idea.