Turkish missiles used in Syria include Europe-produced parts

Commercial brakes produced by a Dutch company to be used in ambulances in Turkey instead ended up in missiles used by Turkey in attacks in northeastern Syria, a report released Tuesday said.

Between September 2021 and June 2022, field investigators with London-based Conflict Armament Research analysed the remnants of 17 air-to-surface missiles used in strikes in northeast Syria, the report said. An analysis of the components of the wreckage found that the missiles were manufactured by Roketsan, a Turkish defense manufacturer.

The missiles included components made by U.S., Chinese and European companies, among them electromagnetic brakes with "markings and characteristics consistent with production by (Netherlands-based company) Kendrion NV," the report said.

Representatives of Kendrion told researchers that the company had agreed in 2018 to supply 20-25,000 brakes to a Turkish company called FEMSAN, with the stated purpose of using them on blood analysis machines fitted to ambulances, the report said. After being notified that the brakes were being used in military applications, Kendrion said it had cut off its business relationship with the Turkish company, the report noted.

FEMSAN did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while representatives of Roketsan could not be reached for comment.

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The research was carried out before the most recent round of Turkish airstrikes in northeast Syria, launched last month in response to a deadly November 13 bombing in Istanbul that Ankara blames on Kurdish groups based in Syria — an allegation that the groups deny. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also threatened a ground incursion.

The report did not allege that the sellers of the components used in the missiles had violated any laws, noting that "while the EU has had an arms embargo related to Syria itself since 2011, (Turkey) has never been subject to sanctions at the multilateral level."

It added that the case "highlights both the critical importance and the relative complexity of commercial due diligence for material of these types” which “may serve multiple purposes, some of which the manufacturer may not even be aware, and which may be extremely sensitive."