NATO countries knock on Türkiye’s door for SİHAs: Defense agency chief

ANKARA 

NATO member countries started to knock on Türkiye’s door to purchase Turkish defense industry products, Defense Industries Presidency (SSB) head İsmail Demir said at the 13th Ambassadors’ Conference.

“If our SİHAs are vilified when they are in Azerbaijan and praised while they are 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 irresponsible weapons in a confusing way, we will emphasize this and show it on the field,” he said on Aug. 10.

Pointing out that the number of countries to which defense industry products are exported exceeds 170, Demir stated that the number of products exported in the defense industry has exceeded 230, especially UAVs, SİHAs, land vehicles and naval platforms.

He stated that while only about 60 defense projects were carried out in 2002, today this number exceeds 750 and that nearly half of these projects have been launched in the last six years.

He stated that ambassadors play an important role in marketing and export activities.

One of the steps Türkiye has taken to increase its defense industry exports and to solve the problems experienced by the countries with which it cooperates in defense procurement will be the implementation of the Defense Industry overseas organization, the defense agency chief said.

“We believe that the consultants we will assign will benefit from 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,” Demir said.

They will be effective in developing export opportunities, detecting and solving obstacles and problems in defense trade in a timely manner, Demir added.