ANKARA (Middle East Eye) – The Turkish opposition’s presidential candidate has angered the company behind Turkey’s famed Bayraktar T20 armed drones, by saying the country’s burgeoning defence industry must be largely controlled by the state and the private sector shouldn’t be permitted to produce weapons alone.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu said defence industry privatization was “a great risk” at an election campaign event where he took questions from students.
“If you only give it to the private sector, let’s say ‘our friend is building an unmanned aircraft’. If you only give it to the private sector, this is a big risk for Turkey,” he said.
“Why? They might sell it to the Americans tomorrow. Or give it to the Qataris as we have given the tank-pallet factory to the Qataris. Impossible. In all democracies and authoritarian regimes of the world, the defence industry must walk together with the state.”
Kilicdaroglu acknowledged that the local defence industry has made significant progress and said he would continue to support investment in the sector.
“The geography where Turkey is located is in a very critical geopolitical place. Right next to us is the Middle East. The Middle East is a bloodbath,” he said.
“Turkey needs to be strong in the region. Strength also depends on the strength of your defence industry.”
Turkey heads to the polls in presidential and parliamentary elections on 14 May.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is partly running an election campaign based on defence industry products such as the TCG Anadolu light aircraft carrier (nicknamed the world first’s drone carrier) and locally designed aircraft.
Kilicdaroglu’s statements didn’t go down well with the private Turkish drone magnate Baykar, whose chairman of the board is Selcuk Bayraktar, Erdogan’s son-in-law.
Baykar has made a name for itself worldwide in recent years through its battle-proven armed drones, including the Bayraktar TB2.
It has made $1.2bn worth of exports, including to Nato countries. The company is now currently developing an unmanned fighter jet called Kizilelma.
Haluk Bayraktar, the general manager of Baykar, reacted negatively to the suggestion that they may sell up and leave Turkey, insisting that would never happen.
“It is very unfortunate to accuse the company of such a thing when it is not in question,” he said in an interview on CNNTurk.