ISTANBUL, Oct 19 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf

Scholz said on Saturday that a project to possibly supply Turkey

with Eurofighter jets was an effort being driven by Britain and

was in the early stages.

"It is something that will continue to develop, but is now

being driven forward from there (Britain)," he said when asked

about potential movement on the issue at a press conference in

Istanbul with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

The British government did not immediately respond to a

request for comment on the subject.

Ankara said last year it was in talks with Britain and Spain

to buy Eurofighter Typhoons, though Germany objected to the

idea. Since then, it has complained of a lack of progress on the

issue and Erdogan alluded to Berlin's reluctance until now.

"We wish to leave behind some of the difficulties

experienced in the past in the supply of defence industry

products and develop our cooperation," Erdogan told reporters.

On Thursday a Turkish defence ministry official said Turkey

had been conducting technical work aimed at accelerating its

planned purchase of the jets.

The Eurofighter Typhoon jets are built by a consortium of

Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain, represented by companies

Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo.