BAKU, Dec. 21. /TurkicWorld/ - Daspina Hasanova

What we are witnessing today in terms of Türkiye’s defense industry, is the result of the lessons learned through years.

Foreign policy commentator for the Turkish SETA research center and Assistant Editor at Insight Turkey Journal Gloria Shkurti Ozdemir said this in an exclusive interview with TurkicWorld.

Compared to the last years, Türkiye’s Defense Industry is experiencing a huge increase. What is the main factor in Türkiye 's success?

– What we are witnessing today in terms of Türkiye’s defense industry, is the result of the lessons learned through years. Johnson’s letter in 1964 which preventing Türkiye from using American weapons in a possible operation to defend the Cypriot Turks is considered as a starting point for the transformation of Türkiye’s defense industry. This brough a transformation in the Türkiye’s frame of mind, meaning that Türkiye became aware of the limitations that the dependency on the US’ defense industry brought to the Türkiye’s policies. Practical steps towards the transformation of Türkiye’s defense industry started to take place mainly in the last decade especially after the US failed to understand Türkiye’s security threats and did not provide the necessary assistance. An example of this is the fact that the US did not accept to sell armed or non-armed UAV to Türkiye, a step that heavily impacted Türkiye’s operations against PKK, therefore Türkiye’s national security. Lastly, all these coincided also with the arrival of AK Party government which, under the leadership of President Erdoğan, aimed at elevating Türkiye’s role and position not only in the regional but also global affairs.

As long as Türkiye continues to achieve such good results in the Defense Industry, what kind of effects will this success have on the country itself and its relations with foreign countries?

– A strong defense industry is directly translated into a strong state, meaning that it will give Türkiye (as stated above as well) the necessary leverage to increase its role and position in the region and beyond. We have seen Türkiye play an important role in several conflicts including here the Karabakh war, Libya, or even Ukraine. This way Türkiye has assisted in the preservation of international law and regional stability/security. At the same time, it has also protected its national interests. Seen from a domestic perspective, these developments in defense industry will have a direct impact on Türkiye’s operations against PKK, which has also been noticed in the last years where PKK has been heavily impacted both psychologically and operationally.

As we know, for many reasons, Türkiye now makes it superior to benefit from domestic and national opportunities in the field of defense and aims to reduce exports from foreign countries. How do you think this can contribute to both the Turkish economy and its developments in this field?

– It is understandable that a decline in arms export will positively affect Turkish economy. However, what’s important here it is not only the decline of imports from foreign countries, but also the increase of arms exports. In the last years 5 years (according to the 2021 data) Türkiye’s arms imports declined by 59% while arms exports increased by 30%. Of course, this does not have an impact only on the economy but first and foremost the decline in imports is translated into less dependence on the external actors – especially the US- and the increase in exports is translated into more power projection.

What role do you think the Turkish electric car TOGG, will play in the automobile industry in the face of global changes (climate change, energy problems), which is one of the biggest problems of our age? Will TOGG be met with the same interest in the world as it was in Türkiye?

– In the last years, as Türkiye has been focused on increasing its technological power, it has not left aside issues such as climate change. Environmental security has been a core pillar in Türkiye’s policies, so TOGG is also a part of these. For Türkiye, TOGG is of crucial importance and not only it will become a major player in the automobile industry in Türkiye but it is important to state that it has turned out to become a national pride for the Turkish citizens. Whether TOGG will meet great interest in the world, it is still early to discuss this. However, it can be stated that at a time when major automobile companies in Europe are facing financial problems due to the global economic crises, TOGG may use this as a market opportunity. However, one should not forget that the larger the market, the larger the challenges so at this point Türkiye should well analyze each step.

Finally, as you know, world leaders held meetings in Indonesia within the scope of the G20 in the past months. Here, the armored vehicle Yörük 4X4, a product of the Turkish Defense Industry, was used for the security of the leaders. On the other hand, the Turkish army was tasked with the security of the guests at the World Cup 2022 held in Qatar. In your opinion, how will all these factors affect the demands of the Turkish defense industry in the world?

– Of course, these are important elements that once more prove the success of Turkish defense industry. However, while they impact the demand of Turkish industry positively, their impact is not as much as when these systems are proved successful in the battlefield, such as in the case of Turkish made TB2 UAV. All of these analyzed together, we can see that Türkiye’s defense industry and of course its military are reaching new levels in the last years, providing Türkiye the possibility to play a major role in regional ang global affairs.

Daspina Hasanova

Twitter: @Daspina9