President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday hailed the distance Türkiye has covered in the defense industry over the last two decades, stressing the consistently expanding portfolio that he says showcases the country's capabilities.

"The ground we have covered in the defense industry is our reference, source of inspiration, and harbinger of what we can do," Erdoğan told a closing ceremony of the International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF) in Istanbul.

"Those who follow our country are the closest witnesses of the success story that Türkiye has written in the last 21 years, especially in the field of the defense industry."

The 16th edition of the four-day expo hosted around 1,500 companies, including 689 from Türkiye and 772 from countries around the world, in addition to nearly 200 delegations. The fair attracted over 100,000 visitors, of which Erdoğan said 15% were foreigners, and saw Türkiye sign multiple export and cooperation agreements with other countries.

Erdoğan said IDEF, which displayed Türkiye's latest indigenous technologies and products, from new drones, marine platforms and air defense systems to next-generation weapons and armored vehicles, had turned into a global brand. This has been confirmed by the number of exhibitors and companies, as well as the expanding range of Turkish defense products, he noted.

Nearly 200 systems and subsystems were showcased during the fair that Erdoğan said proved effective to establish new business networks. The expo saw over 5,000 meetings being held between participating companies, foreign delegations and Turkish procurement authorities, the president noted.

"In addition, 120 promotional programs, cooperation protocols and contract signing ceremonies were held over the four days," he added.

Embargoes, restrictions, double standards

Türkiye's defense industry has undergone a profound transformation over the last two decades, in a breakthrough that has been spurred by a score of Western embargoes. The transformation aimed at reducing external dependency on Western arms through innovative engineering initiatives and domestically developed technologies and ensuring self-sufficiency.

The drive prompted the development of a range of homegrown air, land and marine platforms, which eventually helped Türkiye seal billions of dollars worth of export deals in recent years. The localization drive helped lower Türkiye's foreign dependency in the defense industry from around 80% in the early 2000s to some 20% today.

Erdoğan stressed Türkiye had faced obstacles he said perhaps no country in the world had faced in the last 21 years.

"We were subjected to formal and informal embargoes. We have become the addressee of unfair and unlawful restrictions. We have experienced the worst of double standards, injustice, infidelity," he said.

"But we did not flinch in the face of these, we did not give up, we never turned from our path. We have never forgotten that we have to cut off our own belly by ourselves."

The perseverance and diligence helped Türkiye achieve successes that Erdoğan said could not even be imagined 21 years ago.

Greater goals

Now, according to the president, Türkiye is setting sail for even greater goals, starting with the period of the next two years.

"We have two years ahead of us that we need to evaluate very well. We will use this period in the most effective and efficient way with the public and private sectors," he noted. "We will start and accelerate the projects that we have brought to a certain stage. We will identify the needs of the sector and develop original solutions."

Pledging to further boost Türkiye's competitive power with the expanding product range, Erdoğan expressed determination to ensure many of the products displayed as mockups at IDEF are ready for use and sale soon.

"We will appear before the entire world with new products that are groundbreaking in their field and have advanced technology that leads the industry," he said.

The capabilities of its vehicles, spearheaded by combat drones, triggered unprecedented demand that saw Türkiye's defense industry exports hit a record of more than $4.4 billion (TL 118.60 billion) in 2022.

"It's not enough, it will increase even more. We have no doubt about that," Erdoğan stressed. He said shipments in the first half of 2023 hit a record of nearly $2.4 billion and said they aimed to reach at least $6 billion by the end of the year.

Türkiye is currently running 850 different projects, compared to merely 62 back in 2002. The defense industry budget, which amounted to approximately $5.5 billion in 2002, currently stands at around $90 billion.

The number of companies operating in the industry has reached 2,500, versus only 57 over two decades ago, Erdoğan said.

"We will continue to work in the defense industry without stopping until we achieve the goal of a fully independent Türkiye."