At Turkish defense show, Erdogan praises indigenous defense capacity

IDEF 2025 — In the opening ceremony of the 17th edition of the Turkish defense expo IDEF, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised the nation’s defense industry prowess, announcing that defense production localization has exceeded 80 percent.

“Today, we are not only witnessing the development of the Turkish defense industry, but also the march of a nation toward independence, we are seeing the story of a country rising under its own sky, on its own wings,” he said, according to a translation by Turkish broadcaster Anadol.

Erdogan reportedly said that Turkey has overcome “embargoes, double standards, and diplomatic pressures” in its quest for defense manufacturing sovereignty. Though he didn’t identify those pressures, Erdogan was likely referring at least in part to the US, which kicked Ankara out of its international F-35 program years ago. (Turkey has since embarked on developing its own fifth-generation fighter aircraft, dubbed KAAN.)

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“Our more than 3,500 companies in the [defense] sector successfully continue their operations with a qualified staff of 100,000 people. Today, the Turkish defense industry is writing epics with its wide product range, with over 1,380 projects and a turnover exceeding $20 billion,” he said.

He added that Turkish defense industry meets almost “all the needs of our security units in the most effective way with our own resources.”

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the presentation ceremony of the National Combat Aircraft KAAN on May 1, 2023 in Ankara, Türkiye. (Photo by Yavuz Ozden/ dia images via Getty Images )

Erdogan stressed that Turkey is one “the three leading countries in the world in UAV and UCAV technology. Last year, Turkish companies supplied 65 of every 100 UAVs sold globally.”

Turkey’s unmanned aerial vehicles gained momentum especially after the war in Ukraine where Baykar’s Bayraktar TB2 played a significant role within Kiev’s army. At IDEF 2025, Turkish firms continue building up on their existing capabilities and unveiled a number of UAV’s from vertical lift and landing to first person view kamikaze drones.

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“Turkey is currently one of the 10 countries in the world that designs, develops, and manufactures its own warships. Our prime contractors, subcontractors, SMEs, research institutions, and universities They adorn our export portfolio with new stars with the unique products they develop,” Erdogan added.

The country has no scarcity of shipyards, and it had a number of export contracts from the ADA-class anti-submarine warfare corvettes to Ukraine, to the Babur Class Milgem corvette to Pakistan.

Overall, Erdgoan also said that Turkey became the 11th largest defense exporter worldwide.

Erdogan’s speech wasn’t only about Turkish industry, however. He also took the opportunity to strongly condemn Israeli action in Gaza and called on the international community to act toward a ceasefire.