German arms exports to KSA, Turkey fall dramatically

The first months since the inauguration of Chancellor Angela Merkel's fourth governing cabinet have witnessed a steep decline in the number of government approvals for German arms exports to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Turkey, official figures published on Monday by the ministry for the economy showed.

Responding to a parliamentary enquiry filed by the Left party (Linke), the ministry revealed that the government only approved arms export requests to Saudi Arabia and Turkey worth 30,489 euros (36,402 U.S. dollars) in total between March 14 and April 20. By contrast, Berlin gave the green light to exports worth a combined 27.5 million euros to the two countries during the same period last year.

Turkey has faced criticism from Berlin for the recent launch of a military operation against Kurdish militia in the northern Syrian Afrin region. Similarly, Saudi Arabia has been blacklisted with regards to German arms exports due to its ongoing role in the Yemen conflict.

Nevertheless, German opposition representatives criticized the federal government for continuing to act in contradiction of strict national regulations on arms exports to conflict areas.

Under Germany's constitution, the delivery of weapons intended for military use to countries which are "involved, or at risk of becoming involved, in a violent confrontation" is prohibited.

The Left party parliamentary delegate Alexander Neu spoke out against Merkel's cabinet on Monday for allowing outstanding orders to be delivered to Saudi Arabia despite promising not to fuel the war in Yemen with arms exports in its coalition agreement.