Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Qatar on Wednesday, seeking to purchase billions of dollars in military technology, according to Bloomberg.
Erdogan reportedly requested to purchase 24 used and 16 new Eurofighter Typhoon jets from Qatar.
Britain helped facilitate the signing of a preliminary sale agreement and talks regarding the transfer of fighter jets from Qatar to Turkey in deals estimated to be worth several billion dollars, the outlet reported.
Turkey has long been the second-largest operator of F-16 fighter jets, only second to the United States itself. The Turkish military has never operated any other foreign-produced models but is reportedly seeking to do so in efforts to deepen military ties with European NATO members and other allies.
Purchasing used fighter jets would allow Turkish forces to acquire the arms more quickly, as Bloomberg reported that new US F-16s would not arrive until 2030.
Erdogan’s stop in Qatar was a part of a regional tour including visits to Kuwait and Oman.
A shared extremist agenda
The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) issued a statement warning of their fear that the meeting was not a simple diplomatic visit, calling it a “meeting of ideological allies” whose shared agenda promotes Islamist extremism and destabilizes the region.
Dr. Charles Asher Small, the founding director of ISGAP, assessed the cooperation between Qatar and Turkey as a representation of “the consolidation of a Muslim Brotherhood alliance.”
ISGAP’s statement described the organization’s research into Qatar’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood extremist Islamist movement. The research reportedly documented Qatari involvement in “providing financial, media, and political support that fuels antisemitism, terrorism, and anti-Western ideology.”
Dr. Small cautioned that the arms deal may pose a threat to Western Society and the Jewish people as “Qatar and its allies are not neutral actors, but deliberate exporters of antisemitism and political Islam.”