Toronto, April 12, 2021 – The Hon. Marc Garneau, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, issued a statement cancelling all valid export permits for all military goods and technology destined to Turkey.
Mr. Garneau said: “Following this [joint Global Affairs Canada and Department of National Defence] review, which found credible evidence that Canadian technology exported to Turkey was used in Nagorno-Karabakh, today I am announcing the cancellation of permits that were suspended in the fall of 2020.”
The decision was made because: “This use was not consistent with Canadian foreign policy, nor end-use assurances given by Turkey.”
Scarborough Agincourt MPP Aris Babikian said: “I am delighted that the Canadian Government made the principled decision to uphold Canadian values and principles and not be an accomplice to war crimes.” He added: “This is encouraging news. Our Prime Minister should press forward and bring Presidents Erdogan of Turkey and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan to the International Criminal Court as war criminals and expel Turkey from the NATO alliance.”
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This decision was the calumniation of relentless public pressure from the opposition political parties in the House of Commons, the Senate of Canada, the Ontario and Québec Legislative Assemblies, the mainstream media, the Armenian National Committee of Canada, Project Ploughshares, Prominent Canadians, and many civic society organizations.
In his October 13, 2020 letter to Prime Minister Trudeau and during the Oct. 21 Take-a-Note debate at the Ontario Legislative Assembly, MPP Babikian urged the Prime Minister to permanently “Stop supplying Turkey with military or high-tech components.” Furthermore, he asked the Prime Minister to expel Turkey from NATO and G20.
During a telephone conversation on Monday with Mr. Garneau, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu urged Canada to review defence industry restrictions. The Turkish embassy in Ottawa stated: “We expect our NATO allies to avoid unconstructive steps that will negatively affect our bilateral relations and undermine alliance solidarity.”
During the 44-day Nagorno Karabakh War last fall, the Azarbajiani Armey used Turkish Bayraktar2 drones which used Canadian imaging technology made by L3Harris Wescam of Burlington, Ontario.
Aris Babikian’s Oct. 21 speech at the Ontario Legislative Assembly
