TURKEY REFUSES TO ACCEPT SWISS COMPANY’S BID FOR AIRCRAFT CONTRACT
By Burak Ege Bekdil, Ankara

DefenseNews.com
April 10 2006

A Swiss aircraft manufacturer has been denied permission to join the
bidding for Turkey’s procurement of basic jet trainers for “political
reasons,” officials said.

Defense officials saidPilatus has not been allowed to obtain a Request
for Proposal (RfP) for an approximately $500 million contract for
the purchase of basic trainer aircraft for the Turkish Air Force.

“There is an understanding that Swiss bidders should not join Turkish
military contracts,” a senior official said. “We don’t think Swiss
contenders would be reliable partners in defense contracts.”

A Foreign Ministry official here said that it would be unrealistic to
expect a Swiss company to join a defense program in Turkey, especially
at a time when “serious disputes deeply strain bilateral ties.”

A Swiss diplomat in Ankara admitted that the Swiss company had been
“red-listed” in Turkey.

In 2003, the Swiss canton of Vaud officially recognized genocide
against Armenians by Ottoman Turkey in 1915-1921. The lower house
of the Swiss parliament, against the Bern government’s advice, soon
adopted a similar resolution, unleashing an angry response from Ankara.

Switzerland was a regular supplier of small arms and ammunition to
Turkey until 1991, when it imposed an arms embargo against Ankara,
citing human rights violations. Despite the embargo, Swiss suppliers
sold armaments to Ankara through licensing.

Switzerland quietly ended its embargo last year, but Ankara continued
to keep Swiss weapon suppliers on its “red list.”

Pilatus would have been the fourth international bidder in the Turkish
jet trainer contract if it had been allowed to submit its offer. The
three bidders for the program are Brazil’s Embraer, Korea Aerospace
Industries (KAI) and U.S. company Raytheon.

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