Turkey has become third largest arms importer in the Middle East despite huge arms order by oil- and gas-rich Gulf Arab states, a Swedish think tank said on Monday reports Today's Zaman.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said in its report that arms imports by states in the Middle East decreased by 7 per cent between 2008–12 and 2003–2007. During 2008–12, the report claimed, 19 per cent of all major arms transfers to the Middle East went to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), followed by Saudi Arabia (18 per cent), Turkey (17 per cent) and Iraq (10 per cent).

The volume of arms imports by Eastern Europe increased by 21 per cent between 2003–2007 and 2008–12. However, this increase is entirely due to Azerbaijan, which was the only state in the region to increase its volume of imports. Azerbaijan increased its imports by 155 per cent and rose from 48th to 35th largest importer. These imports are connected to the ongoing dispute with Armenia over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. In 2012 deliveries continued of Aerostar and Hermes-450 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Israel, Mi-24 combat helicopters from Russia, and Matador and Marauder armored vehicles from South Africa built under licence in Azerbaijan.