The UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer has signed an £8 billion deal to sell 20 Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Turkey, following his visit to Ankara to meet President Erdoğan. The deal is being celebrated by both governments as a boost to NATO cooperation and a win for the defence industry, with up to 20,000 British jobs said to be safeguarded. Yet behind the talk of “strategic partnership” lies a grim reality about the true nature of war mongering capitalism. This is an arms deal with an authoritarian regime that continues to imprison journalists, crush opposition, and wage war against Kurdish people within and outside of its borders.
The agreement exposes the hypocrisy at the heart of both governments. Starmer’s talk of ethical foreign policy rings hollow when he arms a government with such a record of repression, while Erdoğan postures as a national hero abroad even as he silences dissent at home. These deals are not about peace or democracy. They are about profit and power. Both leaders are serving the interests of global capitalism, where human rights take a back seat to weapons sales and political gain. If you truly stand for democracy, you cannot fuel the machinery of war.
