Tag: arms exports

  • Turkey’s arms manufacturers target the Middle East

    Turkey’s arms manufacturers target the Middle East

    Turkey’s bustling domestic arms industry has set its sights on the lucrative Middle Eastern export market. For now, arms exports to the region are limited, but Turkey’s private sector ambitions to become a major arms exporter may have larger geopolitical and strategic implications.

    ”]Turkey is developing an indigenous arms industry. [Reuters]The AKP made developing the country’s indigenous defence industry a national priority and initiated a policy to increase government investment in local research and development spending in 2004. The strategy appears to have paid off — Turkey exported nearly $1 billion worth of arms in 2010, up from $200 million in the early 2000s.

    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan campaigned on transforming Ankara into a hub for the defence industry. The ambitious centerpiece of this policy is the AKP’s determination to produce high-tech military equipment — fighter aircraft, helicopters, and drones — which it could then market abroad.

    According to Birol Baskan, at Georgetown University’s Qatar campus, “Turkey has a thriving defence industry and it is now in a position to look for foreign markets. Turkey’s deepening military relations will not only help this industry expand further, but also increase Turkey’s soft power and influence in the region.”

    Ankara is actively seeking to deepen economic ties with neighbours across a host of areas such as tourism, agriculture, husbandry, manufacturing, construction, health and transportation. This is part of a wider belief that economic interdependence and regional stability will benefit Turkey’s economic and security situation.

    “Turkey made a true transition to an export-oriented economic growth model under the AKP,” says Baskan, adding that the Arab world and Iran are attractive markets for Turkey. “AKP’s conservative background helped in gaining access to these markets dominated by the US, European and the East Asian giants,” he says.

    Yet Turkey’s military relationship with the Middle East is still in its infancy and Turkish firms have encountered difficulties competing against major exporters like the United States and European countries. However, Baskan believes that “in the coming years Turkey will invest more in this relationship.”

    A primary motivation for deepening military co-operation with the Gulf States is a desire to expand Turkey’s “immediate and regional sphere of influence, in part to make itself as indispensable a player as possible to powers outside the region, such as the US but chiefly the EU”, argues Aram Nerguizian, a visiting fellow in strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Security.

    “If Turkey could consolidate its role and leadership in the Middle East, this could present the EU with a compelling reason to consider Turkey’s accession to the EU. Middle East countries, in turn, could consider a growing role for a new Sunni bulwark in the region, potentially against Shiite Iran,” he says.

    Baskan disagrees, arguing that “Turkey has its own reasons to engage the Middle East and it does not seem to care too much about how the US and the EU views Turkey’s deepening relations with the Middle East.”

    However, the turmoil engulfing the region could complicate Ankara’s efforts to penetrate the Middle Eastern market. Turkey’s rapprochement with Syria is unraveling and business interest by Turkish entrepreneurs appears to be faltering. Meanwhile, poor relations with Israel — a significant arms producer — have impacted the countries’ military co-operation.

    According to Nerguizian, events unfolding in the Middle East leave “many unanswered questions as to what Turkey’s role will look like at a time when the conservative Arab monarchies are so focused on internal stability and mutual survival”.

    This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.

  • Turkey to export armored vehicle

    Turkey to export armored vehicle

    ISTANBUL, Turkey, May 4 (UPI) — Turkish armored vehicle maker Otokar plans to export eight-wheeled armored vehicles it has just developed, the newspaper Hurriyet Daily News reported.

    “The Turkish armed forces needs no such vehicles in the very short term,” Serdar Gorguc, the Otokar general manager said.” On the other hand, many militaries in the world are in need of such vehicles, so we are in this business.”

    Otokar plans to display its Arma 8×8 at an international defense fair next week in Istanbul, Turkey.

    The Arma is an amphibious tactical wheeled armored vehicle with a high degree of ballistic and mine protection.

    Otokar said the Arma 8×8 will be competing with rivals for contracts in at least two countries in the next two months but the countries weren’t identified.

    Otokar is owned by Turkey’s top business conglomerate, Koc Holding and produces a family of seven armored vehicles.

    Last December it signed contracts worth $9.3 million for exports of several vehicle types and a contract worth more than $10 million for the first export of its Arma 6×6 vehicles.

    Under a $500 million contract, Otokar and its partners have been tasked to deliver four prototypes for a new generation tank by 2015. In agreement with South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem, Otokar is obtaining technology transfer from the company that produced South Korea’s K1 and K2 main battle tanks.

    via Turkey to export armored vehicle – UPI.com.

  • Turkey’s arms exports not affected by unrest, report says

    Turkey’s arms exports not affected by unrest, report says

    MIDDLE EAST: Turkey’s arms exports not affected by unrest, report says

    Is Turkey’s role in the Middle East centrist, or just plain cynical?

    Ankara’s arms trade with Middle Eastern and North African countries is thriving, according to local reports, despite popular uprisings across the region against governments described by the protest movement and others as repressive and corrupt.

    turks evacuated libya

    One senior procurement official with knowledge of defense contracts described the current industry climate as “business as usual” to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News.

    “Egypt is a market and partner with previously signed contracts,” he said.

    “Tunisia and Libya were prospective markets. They still are for the longer term,” he added. “As the dust settles we will roll up our sleeves to help the [Turkish] industry for new contracts…future contracts will come up as soon as stability has been restored.”

    Turkey’s total arms exports are expected to reach $1.5 billion this year, with the Middle East and North Africa accounting for a significant chunk.

    Hurriyet Daily News’ report coincides with calls from the Libyan rebels for stronger Turkish support.

    Abdel Hafidh Ghoga, deputy leader of the opposition Libyan National Council, was quoted by the Anatolia News Agency asking Turkey to condemn Libyan leader Muammar Kadafi and officially recognize the revolutionary movement.

    In the past, Turkey has sought to position itself as a moderate in the region, maintaining close ties with its Arab neighbors as well as Israel, Iran, and the United States. This has made it reluctant to take strong positions that may harm relations with the leaders of those countries.

    Turkey is certainly not alone when it comes to arming Arab states with less than stellar records on human rights and democracy. In fact, Hurriyet Daily News noted that at least one of the contracts is for upgrades to American-made vehicles and equipment.

    The U.S. has been criticized for forking over billions of dollars in mostly military aid to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during his 30-year rule. Appearing to respond to mounting public pressure, the Obama administration finally announced it was reviewing that aid package just weeks before Mubarak stepped down.

    The U.S. also gave millions of dollars in military aid to Tunisia under President Zine al Abadine Ben Ali, who was driven into exile by a popular uprising that erupted late last year and sparked similar protests across the region in Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Algeria and elsewhere.

    The U.S. recently made its largest arms sale ever, worth some $60 billion, to Saudi Arabia, which banned protests on Saturday following unrest in largely Shia areas of the oil-rich Sunni-dominated kingdom.

    –Meris Lutz

    Photo: Turkish citizens evacuated from Libya return home. Credit: Reuters

    via MIDDLE EAST: Turkey’s arms exports not affected by unrest, report says | Babylon & Beyond | Los Angeles Times.