Turkey plans to sew its own parachutes

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

A student takes parachuting lessons from THK in Erzincan, Turkey. DHA photo

The Turkish Aeronautical Association (THK) has decided to cancel an agreement with a French firm for the production of 150 parachutes, due to the French Senate’s recent decision to pass the alleged Armenian Genocide Bill making it a crime to deny the alleged 1915 genocide of Armenians in Turkey.

“The parachutes will now be sewn in a public enterprise in Kayseri,” said THK President Osman Yıldırım in an interview with the Anatolia news agency. Yıldırım added that these domestically sewn parachutes would be more reasonably priced than the 500,000 euros that they were going to initially give to the French firm.

“We are waiting for details from the local enterprise as to when they can begin producing the parachutes and the price they expect,” he said, adding that as soon as an agreement was reached they would begin production.

Yılıdırım also explained that the THK wants to begin manufacturing its own parachutes, both for domestic usage and for export to other countries. “We want to build our own production plant, as each year we need more and more parachutes.”