On Saturday, a representative of the German government confirmed that the chancellor Olaf Solz he will visit Turkey on October 19 and have a meeting with the president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul. But he did not mention anything about the content of the meeting. However, his sibyl response that “of course you can always expect something new from the visit of the German chancellor to the president of Turkey – whom he called an “important partner” – has ignited interest.

The Turkish media is mainly interested in one issue: the lifting of the German embargo on the purchase of “Eurofighter” fighter aircraft from Turkey. According to a central report by the Middle East Eye news website, Germany is starting Eurofighter technical talks with Turkey and Berlin is unblocking the technical negotiations, ahead of Olaf Solz’s visit. In a report by the correspondent in Ankara, citing well-informed sources, “The German Federal Security Council in a secret meeting decided to allow the Eurofighter consortium to share the fighter aircraft specifications with Turkey and start technical consultations.”

With the blessings (and) of Berlin

According to a second source, cited by the same report, the exchange of technical information will focus on what a deal would look like if the sale goes through with Berlin’s blessings. “It will include the full technical details of the fighter aircraft, its procurement stages, training, spare parts management and maintenance protocols,” the report reveals. However, he emphasizes that this move did not mean that the sale will be completed.

According to the head of the Airbus group in Turkey, the Eurofighters may arrive “soon”. Germany is said to have decided to reconsider Turkey’s request to buy the Eurofighter following regional tensions between Ukraine and Russia, as well as the war in Gaza. It is also reported that Berlin’s decision was taken during the Solz-Erdogan meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last month in New York.