The project to possibly supply Türkiye with Eurofighter jets was an effort being driven by Britain and is in the early stages but would "continue to develop," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday during a key Istanbul visit.
"It is something that will continue to develop, but is now being driven forward from there (Britain)," he said when asked about potential movement on the issue at a news conference in Istanbul with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The Eurofighter Typhoon jets are built by a consortium of Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain, represented by companies Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo.
Asked about the subject by Reuters, a British government spokesperson said, "We continue to make progress on the potential export of the Eurofighter Typhoon to Türkiye, an important NATO ally."
"When considering any potential export of Eurofighter, we work closely with the governments of Germany, Italy and Spain, in line with the commitments each nation has made to support the others’ exports," the spokesperson added.
Ankara said last year it was in talks with Britain and Spain to buy Eurofighter Typhoons, though Germany objected to the idea. Since then, it has complained of a lack of progress on the issue and Erdoğan alluded to Berlin's reluctance until now.
Germany's involvement in the production process requires its final approval for the sale to take place.
"We wish to leave behind some of the difficulties experienced in the past in the supply of defense industry products and develop our cooperation," Erdoğan told reporters at the news conference in Istanbul.
The president also pointed to strong trade cooperation between the duo, reiterating the target of reaching $60 billion in bilateral exchange.
Scholz on Saturday also appeared to defend his country's recently growing defense exports to Türkiye, citing the membership of both countries in the NATO alliance as one reason.
"Türkiye is a member of NATO and that is why we always make decisions that there will be concrete deliveries. That is a matter of course," he said.
He also highlighted the importance of maintaining "close contact" with each other amid the ongoing challenges in the world, citing the Russian-Ukrainian war.
On Thursday a Turkish Defense Ministry official said Türkiye had been conducting technical work aimed at accelerating its planned purchase of the jets.
Türkiye is hoping to receive around 40 Eurofighters.
Germany had previously been a large-scale armaments supplier to Türkiye, but in recent years, German weapons exports to the country have been as low as the single-digit-million range.
Sales have recently been increasing, however. This year, Berlin has approved military exports worth 103 million euros ($112 million), according to German government data as of Oct. 13.
The exports are the most since 2011 and include weapons worth 840,000 euros.
Most recently, Germany approved the delivery of 28 torpedoes and 101 guided missiles.