Turkey's arms exports from US plummets in the last five years

Turkey's imports from the United Sates decreased dramatically between 2018-22 compared to the previous five years due to bilateral tensions, according to a recent report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

While Turkey fell from 7th to 27th largest recipient of US arms, Turkey's arms imports came primarily from Italy, Spain and Russia.

Turkey's share in global arms exports in the last five years almost doubled compared to the period between 2013 and 2017, rising from 0.6% to 1.1% and making Turkey the 12th largest arms exporter globally.

Half of Turkish arms exports went to Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman.

The share of the US in global arms exports leapt from 33% to 40% in the last five years compared to the previous five years, as Russia's share fell from 22% to 16%, particularly with the impact of the Western sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine.

The last five years also saw a significant rise in the global share of French and Italian arms exports, with increases of respectively 44% and 45%, making France the third largest arms exporter well ahead of China.

The ten largest arms exporters for the period between 2018 and 2022 are US, Russia, France, China, Germany, Italy, UK, Spain, South Korea and Israel.

India topped the list of arms importers with 11% in global share, followed by Saudi Arabia with 9.6%, Qatar with 6.4% (up from 1.5% in the previous five years), Australia with 4.7%, China with 4.6%, Egypt with 4.5%, South Korea and Pakistan both with 3.7%, Japan with 3.5%, United States with 2.7%.

Notably, Ukraine's arms exports jumped from a meager 0.05% to 2% with an increase of 8,631%, making it the 14th largest arms exporter.