Member of the Canadian Hay Dat Committee: The US is putting pressure on Canada to lift the embargo on arms sales to Turkiye

“We have information that negotiations are currently underway between Canada and Turkiye on lifting the embargo on arms sales,” Sevak Belyan, Member of the Hay Dat Ottawa office, said in an interview with Alpha News.

“These negotiations are not being held in a friendly atmosphere because relations between Canada and Turkiye have not been warm especially after the 44-day war in 2020. However, it is not a secret that Turkiye has a significant influence on NATO, and the membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO gave Turkiye more room for influencing,” Sevak Belyan said.

He also said that, according to the state sources, Turkiye has set a clear condition to its NATO partners that Canada should lift the embargo on arms sales so that Turkiye gives its final consent to the Finland’s membership in NATO. According to Sevak Belyan, after the NATO session in Vilnius on July 11-12, it was expected that Canada would announce the lifting of the embargo on arms sales to Turkiye, however this statement has not yet been made for several reasons.

“Undoubtedly, one of the reasons is the Armenian factor, the work of the Hay Dat Committee, because once we have learned that such negations are underway, we began to exert pressure. We are also informed that Canadian side has set conditions to Turkiye as well. One of these conditions is that Turkey cannot supply weapons to a third country without Canada’s consent. As you remember, in 2020 Canada did not supply weapons to Azerbaijan, and Turkey transferred them illegally. We assume that this statement was not made also for the reason that the Turkish side probably did not agree with the conditions of the Canadian side,” Sevak Belyan said.

He added that not only Turkey, but also the United States of America puts pressure on Canada:

“They, in turn, influence the Canadian side so that the decision on the embargo is lifted and the allied relations return to normal,” Sevak Belyan concluded.

Recall that in October 2020, Canada temporary suspended arms supplies to Turkiye.

“Over the last several days, certain allegations have been made regarding Canadian technology being used in the military conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Upon learning of these allegations, I immediately directed Global Affairs Canada to investigate these claims. In line with Canada’s robust export control regime and due to the ongoing hostilities, I have suspended the relevant export permits to Turkey, so as to allow time to further assess the situation,” Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champaign wrote on Twitter. Find out more in the video