The Effects of Turkish Defense Industry’s Transformation on Turkish Foreign Policy

Türkiye aims to attain self-sufficiency with the transformation of its defense industry by state-centered and private sector investments as collaboration in the last decade. This paper presents new evidence on the effects of Turkish defense industry’s transformation on Turkish foreign policy by analysing the role of private defense sectors collaborated with the state institutions that are innovative and competitive as in today’s global environment. The main purpose of the article is to verify the claim that the developed, nationalized and localized Turkish defense industry is instrumental in taking more confident steps in Turkish foreign policy. Türkiye has been in a defense transformation since the early 2000s by focusing on a self-reliant and techno-nationalist model by allocating national security resources with the awareness of today’s world conflicts on energy, defense, security, and the experience of Cyprus crisis of 1974 and the ongoing fight against terrorism in a historical perspective. This geopolitical and strategic status of Türkiye and the resilience of Turkish defense industry have also emerged opportunities and challenges for Turkish foreign policy. Furthermore, it is observed that the transformation of Turkish defense industry has presented political and economic commitments for the future. The paper also sheds light on Türkiye’s allocation national resources and collaboration with especially private sector in the transformation process. As a result, in this article, it is concluded that Türkiye's increasing its military presence beyond its borders by exporting national weapons, active operations, military bases and peacekeeping missions means that it has adopted an active and assertive foreign policy. Qualitative research method has been used to reach this result together with primary and secondary sources. Information has been obtained directly from the websites of companies such as Roketsan, Havelsan, Baykar technology, STM, BMC. The defense article of İsmail Demir, President of the National Defense Industry of Türkiye, and the studies of researchers who wrote academic articles about the Turkish defense industry such as Sezgin, Seren, Adar, Yeşiltaş, Sekine, Öniş and Sakman have been referred. Apart from these, the DefeseNews website, which provides annual updated lists of the world's most powerful defense companies, has laso been used.