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Türkiye said no final decision has been made on Eurofighter procurement, while criticizing attempts to exclude non-EU allies from the European defense architecture, according to Defense Ministry sources on Friday.
"There is no finalized situation yet regarding Eurofighter procurement," ministry sources said in a weekly press briefing.
"When the contract reaches the approval stage, it will be announced to the public. We would like to remind once again that statements made outside of official sources should not be trusted," sources added.
The ministry said work continues on various configurations to acquire modern fighter jets equipped with advanced technology and to diversify the inventory until Türkiye's national aircraft, KAAN, enters service to meet the Turkish Air Force Command's operational needs.
Defense Ministry sources strongly criticized the EU Security Action for Europe (SAFE) mechanism, saying attempts are being made to exclude non-EU allies or use them as bargaining tools.
The EU Council adopted the SAFE Regulation on May 27, the sources said.
"While our country is in principle open as a candidate country in this mechanism, there are many restrictive measures in the regulation for non-EU member countries," the sources said.
"We witness attempts to exclude non-EU member allies, including our country, from the EU Defense and Security Architecture or to use them as a bargaining tool. It appears some EU members are pursuing the dream of achieving their maximalist ambitions by blocking decisions that are very important for EU security," the sources added.
The sources also noted that European security can only be strengthened through inclusivity, strategic foresight, and collective solidarity, requiring a visionary approach.
"In this context, we believe that our country will make an important contribution to European defense and security with its defense capabilities," the sources said.
"This is also expressed by many of our EU member allies. In this framework, our work will continue to develop defense cooperation with our open-minded and foresighted European allies within or outside the SAFE mechanism in the coming period," the sources noted.
Turkish Defense Ministry sources said Syria's elections are seen as an important and positive step for the country's unitary structure, security, stability and regional peace.
"The SDF terrorist organization, which attacked Syrian government forces in Manbij and rural Aleppo, once again showed that it is not acting in accordance with the agreement it signed with the Syrian government on March 10, and that it poses a threat to regional peace and stability," the sources said.
The ministry said contacts and meetings between the Syrian government and the SDF terrorist organization are being followed with attention and sensitivity.
"Türkiye looks not at the meetings and talks but at the reflections of the signed agreement on the ground and continues to support Syria's 'One State, One Army' principle," the sources said.
Turkish forces have destroyed 664 kilometers (412.59 miles) of tunnels in Syria's Tel Rifat and Manbij regions, the ministry said. A total of 276 kilometers of tunnels were destroyed in the Tel Rifat region and 388 kilometers in the Manbij region.
The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) continue operations 24/7, with search-and-sweep activities ongoing across borders and domestically. One PKK terrorist surrendered in the past week. Numerous terrorist caves, shelters, hideouts, mines and improvised explosive devices were destroyed.
In the past week, 294 people, including two members of terrorist organizations, were caught trying to cross the border illegally, while 996 people were prevented from crossing, the ministry said.
Since Jan. 1, the number of those caught making illegal crossings has risen to 7,471 and those prevented from crossing the border reached 52,872.
During search operations on the Van border, approximately 2 kilograms (1,995 grams) of narcotics were seized.
Defense Ministry sources said surveillance activities continue 24 hours a day from the air and sea to detect and destroy drifting mines, unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles in the Black Sea.
On Oct. 7, suspicious objects assessed as unmanned underwater vehicles were detected by a fisheries research vessel off Trabzon and by a fishing boat off Artvin, the Coast Guard Command and Naval Forces reported.
The unmanned underwater vehicles were destroyed by special forces teams sent to the area.
"We are also holding talks with Ukraine to develop new measures and cooperation on this issue," the sources said.
"As we emphasized before, all our citizens, especially our fishermen who see and detect suspicious objects, should be careful and should urgently inform our security units without any intervention," sources noted.
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