Polish president visits Turkey to seal military deals with “strongest ally” in region

Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, met his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during a visit to Ankara intended to strengthen military and trade ties between the two NATO members.

The countries’ defence ministers signed a $270 million deal for Poland to buy reconnaissance and assault unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), making it the first NATO member state to purchase Turkish drones.

Duda described Turkey as Warsaw’s “strongest ally” in “this part of the world”, reported TRT World. The Polish president said he was “pleased” by the cooperation of the two countries in NATO, where they “share common goals” to ensure national security and fend off regional threats.

Erdoğan said that Poland and Turkey are “model” partners in NATO. He added that Turkish F-16 jets would be sent to Poland “soon” to bolster the alliance’s Baltic Air Policing operation.

Polish defence minister Mariusz Błaszczak, meanwhile, hailed the deal to purchase 24 Turkish Bayraktar TB2 UAVs, which have a reported range of 150 km and will be armed with anti-tank missiles.

“Unmanned aerial vehicles are one of the most important elements of the modernisation of the Polish armed forces,” tweeted the minister.

The agreement ensures that the reconnaissance and assault drones will be serviced in Poland, which has also purchased a logistics and training package. The two countries agreed to mutual protection of classified defence industry data.

The first of the UAVs are due to arrive in Poland in 2022. Similar models of the Bayraktar TB2 drones have been sold to Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Qatar and Libya, with Saudi Arabia also reportedly expressing an interest.

“We are one of the best three, four countries in the world for the hardware,” said Erdoğan during the conference on Monday. Turkey has become the world’s fourth-largest producer of drones since its domestic military production was ramped up to reduce reliance on foreign arms.

According to DefenseNews, the use of Turkish-made drones by Azeri forces fighting Armenia last year attracted the interest of Polish decision makers. But it also put other countries off buying the technology, including Canada, which banned exports of parts used by the Bayraktar TB2s.

During his visit, Duda also called for a boost in bilateral trade, aiming to reach a volume of $10 billion this year, up from the current $6.5 billion, reports Daily Sabah.

Following a day of state meetings on Monday, today Duda met with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate Bartholomew. He later visited Polonezköy, a village set up by emigres fleeing partitioned Poland after failed 19th-century uprisings. Duda awarded their descendants living there today for “upholding Polishness”.

This afternoon the Polish president was also due to take part in an official assembly in the Incirlik airbase near the city of Adana, which hosts NATO troops and a stock of US nuclear warheads. Poland had previously deployed a marine patrol aircraft and a military mission to the base.

Main image credit: Jakub Szymczuk/KPRP/prezydent.pl

Maria Wilczek

Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.