A British company that supplies parts to Turkish drone company Baykar Makina has halted exports to Turkey after their components were found to have been used in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Andair Ltd “was approached by the Embassy of Armenia” about the use of their parts in the recent Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Andair, in a statement released on January 11, said that it had received a request from the Armenian Embassy in the U.K. to stop supplying parts to BAYKAR since the Turkish company was using them to outfit military drones. Then Andair conducted its own investigation and found the claims are accurate, hetq said.
The company had been criticised after fuel pumps produced by Andair were found in Bayraktar drones which had crashed or been shot down during the conflict between Azerbaijan and the breakaway Armenian Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, or Artsakh, as it is called by Armenians.
It is unclear whether Andair was aware of the purpose for which the fuel pumps it manufactures were being used. In a letter published by the firm, Andair said that they had conducted an investigation after being approached by the Armenian embassy and discovered that their parts were being used in Baykar’s drones.
Armenian social media users praised the work of Armenian campaigners in the UK, as well as local anti arms trade organisations, in stopping the export of the components.
