Türkiye reliable partner of NATO, says defense official

ANKARA

Türkiye is a reliable and strategic partner of NATO and contributes to the alliance not only through its critical alignment but also through its indigenous capability development and technological innovations, the head of Turkish Secretariat of Defense Industries (SSB) said.

The Turkish defense industry is the 11th largest exporter in world, with 75 percent of the systems it produces used by NATO forces, according to Haluk Görgün.

On May 27, the Council of the European Union adopted a regulation setting up SAFE, which is a new financial instrument worth 150 billion euros that will support member states that wish to invest in the defense industry.

Görgün said the SSB is currently conducting more than 1,100 active procurement and R&D programs, adding: “In terms of the size and diversity of the program portfolio, we are the largest defense industry program management authority in the world.”

Türkiye reached $7 billion in defense and aerospace exports in 2024, Görgün recalled. 

"Of this total, 55.4 percent was realized to NATO allies and Ukraine. The fact that 10 of the top 20 countries are NATO countries and Ukraine clearly shows that Türkiye is a reliable and strategic partner,” he said.

“We are ready to serve NATO with our production capacity, thousands of different NATO-standard systems,” Görgün added.

Emphasizing that Türkiye has cooperation in the defense industry not only within the framework of NATO, but also with European countries on a bilateral level, he reminded that Türkiye took part in the production of the A400M transport aircraft, one of the symbolic projects of Europe's goal of achieving independent operational capability, together with six European countries.

“Considering our status as a candidate country of the EU, we hope that the SAFE instrument will further deepen the defense industry cooperation between the EU and our country,” he said.