Türkiye close to joining world’s top 10 defense exporters

ANKARA  

Türkiye’s growing defense sector is close to breaking into the ranks of the world’s top 10 defense exporters as domestically developed platforms gain widespread international trust, the head of the Turkish Defense Industries Secretariat (SSB) said at the agency’s second anniversary event in Ankara on Aug. 6.

Haluk Görgün, secretary of the SSB, said the global success of Turkish defense platforms was driving demand, while the agency and affiliated companies hosted dozens of foreign delegations every week as an increasing number of countries sought to purchase Turkish defense products.

Görgün said the sector’s global success was largely due to its human capital, noting that the average age of defense industry employees in Türkiye was 34, while some companies generating around $1 billion in revenue had an average employee age of under 30.

“Thanks to its young and skilled workforce, Türkiye is ready to meet the needs of its allies for decades to come,” he said.

Görgün emphasized that nations survive through the capacity they build long before crises emerge and said the National Competency Initiative, a framework approved at a defense meeting chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2024, represented the human resources and competency dimension of the country’s national resilience strategy.

“Many new fields became decisive in ensuring national security, ranging from artificial intelligence [AI] to quantum technologies and from space exploration to cybersecurity,” he said.

“We’re determined to be one of the pioneers in this great technological race, since after all, foreign dependence for critical technologies could spell a silent transfer of sovereignty,” Görgün said.