Turkey strives for independent defense industry

Turkey's defense industry body on Aug. 11 said Ankara was determined to continue its policies to ensure that the Turkish defense industry operates fully independently.

According to a statement by the Communications Directorate, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan headed a meeting of the Defense Industry Executive Committee of Turkey that focussed on a variety of issues, including sectoral developments and indigenous defense systems used by the Turkish military.

The statement said indigenous military hardware developed, designed, and produced by Turkey proved their worth amid cross-border and domestic counter-terror operations, once again underlining the significance of locally made defense systems.

It further noted that Turkish authorities did not allow the COVID-19 pandemic to disrupt critical defense industry projects and that operations would continue in the post-virus period.