Erdogan calls the explosions of Hezbollah’s communications equipment a “terrorist attack”. This is why the domestic defense industry is to be strengthened.
Ankara – The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to invest more in the domestic defense industry after the explosions of thousands of pagers and radios belonging to the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon. “We saw how important this is during the terrorist attacks in Lebanon. The value of investing in our national technology has been recognized. We will continue our work until we have achieved the goal of a fully independent Turkey in the defense industry,” Erdogan said in his speech on Friday (September 20) to the gendarmerie and other security forces.
In his speech at the handover of 7,204 new vehicles to the Turkish security forces, Erdogan once again attacked foreign powers that are said to be afraid of a strong Turkey. “Weapons lobbies, chaos lobbies, blood traders who feed on the tears of the oppressed are being disrupted by us, the growing and growing stronger Turkey.” Erdogan did not name any specific names or countries behind these powers this time either.
Relations between Turkey and Israel have been strained since October 7
Since the Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip, relations between Israel and Turkey have deteriorated massively. This is also reflected in the mutual verbal attacks. The Turkish head of state compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Hitler.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz fired back, calling Erdogan someone who followed in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein and turned his country into a dictatorship. In his most recent speech, Erdogan added: “Those who dream of the promised land, those who want to turn the wheels of exploitation, are being disturbed by us.”
Türkiye must wait for national stealth fighter aircraft
The investments in the domestic arms industry are likely to benefit the Turkish arms company “Baykar”, which is managed by son-in-law Selcuk Bayraktar and his family. The company currently exports military drones to dozens of countries. In addition, the state-owned aviation company TUSAS is building “Kaan”, the company’s own 5th generation fighter aircraft with stealth function.
After the Hezbollah explosions that left dozens dead and thousands injured, the Turkish defense industry also sees business in communications equipment. On September 18, the Turkish defense company Aselsan presented its latest telecommunications equipment at X – with encrypted communications and the possibility of live video connections.
The Hezbollah accuses Israeli intelligence of being behind the devastating attack in which Thousands of Hezbollah members’ pagers and radios exploded The Islamist militia will no longer trust Western suppliers so quickly and will have to look for alternatives.
Turkish fighter jets equipped with Israeli software
But whether it is the Türkiye The idea that Turkey can actually become completely dependent on the defense industry currently seems to be an illusion of the powerful man in Ankara. “In the defense industry, we have reduced our country’s dependence on foreign countries from 70 percent to 30 percent,” Erdogan said in a speech in July 2020. But when it comes to modern key technologies such as engines or software, Turkey is still dependent on foreign countries – and that too from Israel.
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