Turkey’s Presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın says Turkey will work with ‘other nations’ to develop its domestic defence industry following U.S. sanctions, according to Bloomberg.
“With or without sanctions, Turkey will continue to protect its national interests, develop its own defense industry and work with other nations as a sovereign country,” the statement said.
Kalin also said that the sanctions “will not change Turkey’s resolve to develop its own defense industry capacities, diversify its sources, decrease dependency, and increase self-sufficiency”.
On Twitter, Kalin repeated the point that Turkey was looking to develop multilateral relationships with different regional partners.
Turkey’s government has been very proud of advances in its domestic arms industry in recent years. Turkey’s drone capabilities were particularly on display in the recent conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan, where Turkish drones helped attack Armenian positions. However, many of the parts used in Turkey’s domestic arms industry are imported.
Ahval