Turkey’s importance in Europe’s security and defence architecture is rising rapidly. Through its military capability, self-sufficiency in the defence industry and diplomatic activism, the country has emerged as one of the most important partners in the European security system. As host of NATO’s recent summit, Turkey underlined this changed reality still more clearly.
Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest army, has invested heavily in its own defence industry over the past decade. It is now able to meet about 80 per cent of its own military needs, while its arms exports are also expanding rapidly on the international market. Last year the country’s defence exports crossed US$10 billion, a figure expected to rise further.
The Turkish-made Bayraktar TB-2 drone, which played a key role in destroying Russian tanks in the Ukraine war, has become the best-known symbol of the country’s defence industry. Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Croatia and several other countries have already acquired it.
Beyond drones, Turkey is supplying electronic-warfare and radar systems to Poland, naval logistics ships for Portugal, advanced jet trainers for Spain, air-defence systems to Iraq and warplanes to Indonesia. In addition, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Poland, Estonia, Hungary, Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina have also imported arms from Turkey.
Turkish firms such as Roketsan and Aselsan have also been included in NATO’s large defence projects, where they will work jointly on developing missile-strike capability and air- and missile-defence systems.
Turkey has also become more active diplomatically. By hosting peace talks at the start of the Ukraine-Russia war, connecting the international community with the new administration after the fall of the Assad government in Syria, and mediating in various Middle East crises, the country has established itself as an important regional power.
On the sidelines of the NATO summit, Turkey’s deputy defence minister, Salih Ayhan, said Turkey was no longer merely a country defending its own borders but had become a state playing an important role in establishing global stability, security and peace.
At the summit, the United Kingdom and Turkey announced a new defence and security cooperation agreement, under which the two countries’ defence cooperation — including intelligence sharing — will take on a more institutional form.
Analysts say that after the Ukraine war, Russia’s security threat and the pressure on NATO members to raise defence spending have left Europe keen to strengthen ties with Turkey further. Its position at the junction of Europe and Asia, its links to the Black Sea, the eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Caucasus, and its control of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits give Turkey a unique strategic advantage.
Although distance once developed with its Western allies on various issues, in the current situation Turkey is being seen as one of the principal pillars of the European security system. This position, however, is also creating new geopolitical challenges.
Turkey’s own KAAN fighter-jet project still depends on US-made engines. At the same time, the strengthening of Turkey’s defence ties with Europe raises the prospect of some displeasure in the United States. Israel, meanwhile, is opposing the possibility of Turkey being supplied F-35 fighter jets; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously claimed that such a decision could upset the balance of power in the Middle East.
According to international analysts, Turkey has become an indispensable partner in Europe’s security strategy in the short term. In the longer term, however, the complexities of Middle East and global geopolitics could create new challenges around Turkey.
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