Defence Industry Agency is moving to a new concept. An abroad organization will be established. Defense consultants will market Turkish products. The consultants will work in 9 countries in the first phase. Türkiye sells 230 defense products in 170 countries.
President of the Defence Industry Agency Ismail Demir, in his speech at the 13th Ambassadors Conference, explained Türkiye’s new steps in the field of defense industry. Demir noted that the number of countries to which defense industry products are exported has exceeded 170, and that the number of products exported in the defense industry, especially UAVs, UCAVs, land vehicles and naval platforms, has exceeded 230.
“WE SEE THE DOUBLE STANDARD VERY CLEARLY”
Stating that NATO member countries are also knocking on Türkiye’s door, Demir said, “Our UCAVs are discredited while in Azerbaijan and praised while in Ukraine, we see the double standard here very clearly. Türkiye is a country with a deep state tradition. “We are not a country that sends and sells weapons irresponsibly to confuse the world, as the world’s superpowers do. We will emphasize this and show it on the ground,” he said.
DEFENSE INDUSTRY ABROAD ORGANIZATION IS TO COME TO REALIZE
Demir stated that ambassadors play an important role in marketing and export activities. “Our request from the ambassadors is to provide all kinds of support to strengthen a general defense industry export concept in the countries where they are located. One of the steps we have taken to increase our defense industry exports and to solve the problems experienced by the countries with which we cooperate in defense procurement will be the implementation of the Defense Industry Abroad Organization. We believe that the consultants we will assign shall benefit the coordination of our defense industry cooperation activities from state to state, under the auspices of our ambassadors in the countries where they are located. We know that they will be effective in the development of export opportunities, in the timely detection and resolution of obstacles and problems in defense trade.”
Defense industry consultants will work in 9 countries in the first phase, primarily within the embassies of Doha/Qatar, Islamabad/Pakistan, Brazil, Jakarta/Indonesia, Baku/Azerbaijan, Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia, Muscat/Oman, Dhaka/Bangladesh, London/England. Describing the developments in the field of defense industry in the last 20 years, Demir reminded that while only 60 defense projects were carried out in 2002, today this number exceeds 750.