FIVE European governments are stopping arms sales to Turkey in protest at its invasion of Syria – but Britain continues to licence weapon exports to Ankara.

France and Germany have frozen arms sales and there are strong signs that Norway, Finland and the Netherlands will soon follow suit.

However, Britain continues to sell weapons to Turkey and, in the last five years, has licensed £1.1 billion worth of arms sales to the country, according to Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT).

Around a fifth of these export licences were for aircraft, which could give Turkey a crucial advantage in its attack on left-wing Kurds in Syria, who have no air force to defend themselves.

Andrew Smith of CAAT said: “The Turkish government is one of the world’s largest buyers of UK arms, and they could easily be used in the war.”

He demanded that Prime Minister Boris Johnson “curb arms sales and act to ensure that UK-made weapons are not contributing to the violence.”  

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for sanctions against Turkey and multilateral action to achieve a ceasefire, rather than a no-fly zone.

“Let’s not get involved in another war, let’s get involved in peace,” he told the website JOE.

Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who sits on Parliament’s arms export controls committee, echoed Mr Corbyn’s concerns, saying it was “illegal to approve sales” of weapons that might end up in the hands of Turkish proxies, whom he described as “jihadis” that were “conducting roadside executions.”

In addition to the arms sales, an unknown number of Turkish troops are currently in Britain on a Nato war game.