Kılıçdaroğlu says he supports Baykar‘s achievements

UŞAK

Nation Alliance’s presidential candidate and Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has emphasized that the defense industry is a national matter and expressed his support for the achievements Turkish defense company Baykar has made during all these years.

“The defense industry is a national issue, and a national issue is not the subject of daily politics,” Kılıçdaroğlu said on April 24, addressing a rally in the western province of Uşak.

Kılıçdaroğlu cited the statements by government officials that any possible rule of the opposition bloc would end the ongoing defense industry projects.

“They say: ‘Look, they will come tomorrow, they will finish the defense industry. They will terminate UAVs.’ No, why should we? Did the national defense system start with them? This has been going on since the 1970s. The Defense Industry Fund has been established since the 2000s,” the CHP leader stated.

“The defense industry is a national issue, not a party issue. The stronger Türkiye is in the defense industry, the more it negotiates, the more it becomes a state that demonstrates its strength,” he stated.

No matter what the political opinion one has, the defense industry must be supported, he said and added, “But you will make the support sincere. You will not give the Tank Pallet Factory to the Qatari army by saying that you support it.”

Türkiye is a country that is strong, rich and knows how to live in fraternity, Kılıçdaroğlu said. “We will never part and fight. We will hug. We will be together. We will come to power; the power will be the power of the people, not the palace.”