Transformation of the Turkish Defense Industry: The Story and Rationale of the Great Rise.

• Author: Demir, Ismail
• Position: COMMENTARY

Introduction

The Turkish defense industry has a strong historical background in essence. Within the framework of this background, the positions and policies to build and sustain a robust defense industry have always continued from past to present and preserved their existence, even though they were interrupted at times, even when they were pushed back visibly and even when they remained just a dream. Similarly, the history of the Turkish defense industry has witnessed myriads of breakthroughs, attempts and never-ending persistence at the individual level even if these efforts faltered in continuity at times.

Today, as of August 2020, the Turkish defense industry shines out as an extremely significant example in terms of the history of the Republic, the understanding of the concept of the defense industry and its relations with other fields, and of the future of the defense concept.

In this context, we will scrutinize the transformation of the Turkish defense industry in terms of its objective goals. The defense industry experience of emerging countries, such as Turkey, the process of presenting and demonstrating this experience through concrete projects and the political ethos represented by this process offer critical lessons for both leading countries on a global scale in this field and countries eager to rise in this field.

The first section of the article will present a brief summary of the historical background of the Turkish defense industry that we, as the Presidency of defense industry leans on and refers to in summarizing story of defense industry in Turkey. (1) The featured characteristics of the historical period of the Turkish defense industry until the establishment of the Defense Industry Development and Support Administration Office (Savunma Sanayii Gelistirme ve Destekleme Idaresi Baskanligi - SAGEB) under the Ministry of National Defense in 1985, will be discussed in this section.

The second section analyzes the defense industry after 1985 in the context of the corporate transformation of the then Undersecretariat of the defense industry. The third and final section of the article will examine in detail the fundamental characteristics of the post-2017 period, i.e. the 5th period, the main factors of the transformation process, the current situation and future orientations. This section will include concrete data on the juncture at which the Turkish defense industry has arrived today.

The main argument advocated in this article is the necessity of addressing the recent rise of the Turkish defense industry in two different but interrelated periods. The first is the reflection in the Turkish defense industry of the great transformation in all dimensions since 2002, achieved under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Within this reflection, the infrastructure of procurement of needs, the transformation of the industry and the formation of sound relations between technology and the defense industry in the field of defense have been built. Thus, opportunities have increased, capacity has expanded and the defense industry has been provided with the strong support of an extremely decisive and long-term projection.

The second period represents the transformation of the position and function of the Presidency of defense industry in bureaucratic mechanisms as well as government's expectations from the defense industry in addressing the needs of Turkish security forces and coping with threats and challenges to the security of Turkey. A universal and systematic process of transformation has been under way since 2014, in particular, and following the failed coup in 2016, the defense industry was first attached to the Turkish Presidency and then restructured as a 'Presidency of Defense Industry.' In this process, owing to the Presidential Government System, the Presidency of defense industries, as a structure, has come to the fore as one of the prime institutions at the core of the great transformation experienced in political, industrial and military-civilian policies, as well as defense strategy and defense technology in Turkey.

During this period, the defense industry recovered from being an isolated area, and transformed into one that acts in concert with global trends and, at the same time, concentrates on the national needs of our country. In the same period, the defense industry has managed to transform the concept of 'defense industry' into a full-fledged movement of industrial development and a national technology trend by cooperating across a broad spectrum with many other fields, from healthcare to energy and from youth to educational policies. As can be inferred from the data provided in detail in the following sections, the point we have reached as of 2020 is a concrete indication of this breakthrough.

Historical Context and Background

Setting aside the previous histories, in the transition to the modern era, the experience gained in the Republic period mainly dates back to the rise of the Ottoman Empire. The key tools and materials of war were almost completely manufactured by using local resources; Tophane-i Humayun [the Imperial Cannon Foundry] formed the core of the Empire's defense industry and reached a capacity of molding 1,060 cannons and producing 360 kg of gunpowder per month. The Empire's capacity for manufacturing warships and the level of technology were far beyond those of the European countries. Rebuilding a naval fleet of 200 ships from scratch in a five-month period, following its total destruction in the Battle of Leponto, reveals the extent of the manufacturing capacity of the Ottoman shipyards. Undoubtedly, examples from the Ottoman experience in terms of land, air and sea are too rich and numerous to be contained within the scope of this article. Here, we will mainly focus on the experience of the Republic period, and address the main transformation points after 1985.

The history of the defense industry during the Republican period may be categorized in different ways. Our institutional approach is to divide the period that stretches from 1923 to the establishment of SAGEB in 1985 into three main historical blocks, where SAGEB represents the first corporate structure of the Presidency of defense industries under the Turkish Presidency. The periods before and after 1985 will be briefly explained in the same fashion, albeit with certain differences regarding categorization of historical blocs. (2)

The 1st Period: 1923-1939

Throughout the decline and then following the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish Defense Industry struggled to keep up with technological developments in Europe since the 18th century and lost its effectiveness and productivity to a great extent during World War I. For this reason, no significant infrastructure in this domain was inherited at the onset of the Republic period, and activities remained limited to a couple of manufacturing facilities during and after the War of Independence.

Nevertheless, the defense industry has been acknowledged as an essential part of the Republic's full-fledged movement toward industrialization and development. In this direction, state support for the development of the defense industry was projected in the first planning period. Despite economic and technological difficulties, investments to set the basis of the national defense industry were made in the early years of the Republic. Significant initiatives were embarked upon in the weaponry-ammunition and aviation sectors such as the establishment of the General Directorate of Military Factories in 1921, in particular.

In 1924, small weapons and cannon repair shops and cartridge factories were established in Ankara. In the same year, the Golcuk Naval Shipyard was set up for the maintenance of the Yavuz battle cruiser. With completely domestic investments, the foundations of Turkey's first and largest private sector defense industry factory were laid down in 1925 by Sakir Zumre in Halic, Istanbul. The activities of the Turkish aviation industry were initiated through the establishment of Tayyare ve Motor Turk A.S. (Airplane and Motor Turk Co., or TamTAS) in 1926. In the 1930s, the Nuri Killigil pistol, mortar and ammunition production facilities in Istanbul were some of the first private firms producing weapons for the defense industry.

Symbolically, the first period of the history of the Turkish defense industry is believed to be ended in 1950 or in the context of years (official application made in 1950 and then becoming member on February 18, 1952) that Turkey became a member of NATO. Many different factors played a role in this, including the weakening of economic opportunities required to sustain investments and initiatives for the defense industry, and the concentration on domestic political consolidation with changing political priorities. But in fact, it may be assumed that Turkey entered the second period in the first half of the 1930s as far as the priority and importance given to the defense industry and the numbers and features of investments made in this domain are concerned. Still, at this point, 1939, the beginning of World War I, may be presumed as a real historical turning point. That will also provide us an opportunity to analyze the picture more reasonably.

Nuri Demirag had attempted to set up an aircraft facility in 1936; the production of 24 NUD-36 training planes in 1940 and six NUD-38 passenger planes were outstanding successes of the period. The airplane factory established by the Turkish Aviation Association (Turk Hava Kurumu - THK) in Ankara, in 1941, is considered the first major initiative of the Turkish aviation industry. The factory started production in 1944, and produced scores of training aircraft, cargo planes and gliders. The first aircraft engine factory was set up in Ankara, in 1945.

Despite the initiatives to establish a national defense industry, the increase in foreign...