A Turkish Rolls Royce soon?

When one types the words ?Erdo?an + indigenous + national + aircraft? in Turkish Google, it will produce 1.38 million results. Replace the word ?Erdo?an? with ?Davuto?lu? you will get a more modest 890,000 results. When President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an or Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu mentions an ?indigenous? or ?national aircraft,? they could be referring to either of: A drone [the Anka], a fighter jet [TF-X], a basic trainer aircraft [the Hurkus] or a dual-use regional jet [the TRJ-328 and TRJ-628].

Recently, Turkey?s chief defense procurement official, ?smail Demir, honestly said: ?We have never said that the 328 is a national aircraft, [or that] it is an entirely Turkish aircraft; we?ll never say [that].?

The problematic part about the Dornier 328 and Dornier 628 winning Turkish nationality is not about the modification process, it is about the ?we? part in the undersecretary?s words. ?He? may not have said, or will never say, that the 328 is an entirely Turkish aircraft. But ?they? have said that many times, hoping to win a few more votes from a Turkish audience that should normally expect their leaders not to lie to them by looking straight into their eyes.

More recently, the future Turkish national car whose camouflaged photos the ?science? minister, Fikri Isik, shared on social media appeared to be a ?Turkish Cadillac? whose property rights Turkey acquired from Swedish carmaker/aircraft maker Saab. A ?Turkish Rolls Royce? would have been a more proper choice than a ?Turkish Cadillac,? as it would forever remind motorists of how a former American ambassador had portrayed Turkey: Rolls Royce ambitions, Rover resources?

As a matter of disturbing fact, the entirely Turkish attack helicopter, the T129, is the making of...