[Sweden]: Message to TASA

[Connor]

Kingdom of Sweden Reinfeldt Administration

February 2007​

Dear Ambassadors,

In the spirit of transparency and in recognition of the enduring trust and strategic cooperation within the Transatlantic Security Agreement alliance, I am writing to provide you with a detailed account of recent strategic measures undertaken by the Kingdom of Sweden which may have implications for our shared defence and security interests. I must stress that this is a whole-of-government approach in response to a direct threat to our national security and international reputation. I have been directed by the Prime Minister to correspond with you.

In the past few days we became aware of a Turkish-licenced agreement enabling the production of a specific unmanned aerial vehicle for Myanmar, a nation with-which we have absolutely no diplomatic relationship with. In light of security risks such a capability could pose in Southeast Asia and that of our own, and consistent with our commitment to preventing to proliferation of advanced military technologies, we acted to block the programme. As the majority stakeholder in Turkish Aerospace Industries, we exercised our authority to halt production immediately and the parties involved were informed in good faith by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration.

In response, Turkiye attempted to circumvent this decision by pursuing a backdoor strategy: securing additional state ownership in Turkish Aerospace Industries to override Sweden's controlling stake and thereby resume the planned production for Myanmar. This represented a calculated breach of trust, an act of political and industrial attack in direct opposition of sector norms, just weeks after we come from talks discussing how to aid their economic situation. It is of particular concern that their economic situation may be casting a cloud over good judgement, particularly in areas of national security.

The severity of this action has not gone unattended. Following extensive deliberations without our national security and foreign affairs councils, Sweden has enacted immediate and extensive measures. Effective immediately, the Turkish Government and Armed Forces have had access withdrawn from all export licences, technology transfers, cooperative agreements and intellectual property rights to products, components, maintenance services, software updates and technical support originating from Turkish Aerospace Industries, Aselsan AS, Roketsan and Saab AB. In addition, all relevant intellectual property has been reorganised under Swedish holding structures to prevent any future attempts at circumvention.

Whilst these actions are directed at Turkiye, we are mindful of their impact on our allies. Close coordination between our governments will be essential to ensuring a consistent allied stance and safeguarding sensitive defence technologies from exploitation.

The intelligence community has been directed to monitor the situation and we are prepared to provide full briefings surrounding this decision and explore measures to address this total breach of trust.

Regards,
Bert Stolt
Ambassador to the Transatlantic Security Arrangement
Department of Foreign Affairs

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