Man exports over 30,000 rifles annually from Antalya

ANTALYA

An entrepreneur in the southern province of Antalya exports nearly 32,000 rifles he produces, to eight countries annually.

Owner of an arms company operating in an industrial site in Kepez district for 17 years, Zafer Özkan continued the production of rifles that his grandfather had started 63 years ago in the southern province of Burdur’s Çavdır district and combined it with mechanization.

Özkan exports 32,000 of the 36,000 guns the company manufactures annually in its 1,000 square meter workplace to the U.S., Australia, Russia, Norway, France, England, Azerbaijan and Ukraine.

Stating that his father used to make rifles by hand, Özkan said, “We produced this way with him until 1990, when we started mechanization.”

“We sell the rifles both to abroad and to the domestic market. The intensity of our exports is currently on the U.S. and Australia. We produce 100 rifles per day, but we are working to increase our capacity as the demand is so high this year.”

“Of the 36,000 guns we produce annually, 90 percent are exported,” he stated, adding that his dream is to expand his business and move to Antalya Organized Industrial Zone.

The company has made a big breakthrough in the recent period, which is a source of pride, said Mehmet Öztürk, the head of the industrial site at which the company operates.

Öztürk noted that they had recently exported a large number of weapons to Australia.