President Erdoğan: Overcoming major obstacles and difficulties, we have increased the rate of domestic production in defense industry to around 70%

 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke at a graduation ceremony at the National Defense University in Istanbul.

Congratulating the 227 officers that have completed their education and graduated, President Erdoğan stressed that soldiering, as a job, is almost as old as the history of humanity.

“WE ARE A NATION THAT HAS ESTABLISHED THE MOST POWERFUL MILITARIES AND THE LARGEST STATES IN HISTORY”

“Wars, and the destructions, sufferings and losses they cause, are a reality which is never desired but one should always be prepared for when they become inevitable,” said President Erdoğan, and continued: “We are a nation that has established the most powerful militaries and the largest states in history. Therefore, we have always been well aware of the importance of being prepared for war throughout our history. In this regard, the saying, ‘Peace at home, peace in the world,’ by Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of our Republic, is of critical importance.”

Underlining that the way to ensuring peace in the world is through deterrence, in other words, through possessing the strength to achieve deterrence, President Erdoğan said: “The most important element of this strength is to have a well-trained, well-equipped, disciplined and brave military that has high mobility.”  

Warning about the motives behind the steps aimed at undercutting, on no reasonable grounds, Turkey’s efforts to develop its own defense industry, President Erdoğan said: “Those imposing overt or covert embargoes on our country in defense industry will one day understand that this is actually an issue of courage, endeavor and perseverance. Yet, when that day comes, we will have reached a point where we no longer need anyone and thus what they say or do will be of no importance to us.”

“TURKEY ADDS VALUE AND STRENGTH TO NATO”

Turkey comes to prominence and is followed with appreciation because of its achievements and adherence to its commitments in all the bilateral and multilateral military alliances, President Erdoğan underlined, adding that this is best demonstrated by Ankara’s actions under NATO. 

Noting that Turkey has successfully fulfilled all the duties it has taken on since its accession to NATO, President Erdoğan said: “We will continue to duly carry out all the duties we undertake at the UN and NATO as well as other organizations. Turkey adds value and strength to NATO, too, and expands its vision and scope, as is the case with any other organization it is a member of. So long as we see the same mentality in our interlocutors, we will continue to adhere to our commitments.”

“The embargoes we face in defense industry increase as we continue to strongly defend the rights of our country and our friends,” emphasized President Erdoğan, adding: “Our foreign dependency rate in defense industry was about 80% 17 years ago. That is to say, we were able to produce ourselves only 20% of the defense industry products we needed. Overcoming major obstacles, difficulties and sabotages, we have increased the rate of domestic production in defense industry to around 70%.”