Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems to have returned buoyed from the March 24 NATO summit in Brussels, hoping that the Russian war against Ukraine will encourage Western nations to remove bans on military sales to Turkey. While European countries are likely to be more flexible, US sanctions remain a tough row to hoe.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has revived NATO and relatively eased Erdogan’s diplomatic isolation in the Western fold. Erdogan held bilateral meetings with the leaders of France, Britain, Italy, Spain and Estonia at the summit, and pressed for the removal of direct and indirect sanctions that NATO allies have slapped on Turkey’s defense industry amid frequent rows in recent years. 

Referring to the role of the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 armed drones in bolstering Ukraine’s defenses against Russia, Erdogan said, “Given the obvious success of Turkey’s defense industry, there is no reasonable justification for the obstructions we face in this field. The lifting of restrictions imposed by some allies will be in our common interest. Covert or direct embargoes should not be even mentioned between allies. I shared our expectations with the leaders.” 

Erdogan’s message is directed at a long list of recipients.