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The Turkish defense industries sector faces a great challenge, following the sanctions imposed by the United States under the “Katsa” Law, which were described as a fundamental development that draws new frontiers for the relationship between Washington and Ankara in the last days of 2020, and that will set a scenario called tension at a time when the president prepares. The American national team Joe Biden to enter the White House.
Three days have passed since the sanctions, in which the Turkish statements came out at various levels, and poured in one direction, which is that the sanctions will not have a significant impact on the defense industries sector, on the contrary, they will give a negative effect on the development of local industries, in order to achieve their full independence.
While the official version of Turkey is based on undeniable statistics on the great progress that the defense industries sectors are witnessing in the country, this matter is not enough to eliminate the damage that the sanctions of Washington will cause, which can be found In more than one angle, the first of these is “symbolism”, especially He targeted a defense sector directly affiliated with it, and its activities are under the umbrella of the Turkish Presidency.
From other angles, the US sanctions also stem from the damage they will inflict on defense industries in Turkey, which has become the cornerstone of President Erdogan’s foreign policy and one of the most prominent documents of his rise. regional in the region.
The comment signed by President Donald Trump represents the first arms embargo imposed by the United States on Turkey since 1975, after the Turkish military took control of Cyprus, at which point Washington had stopped arms sales and military aid. to Turkey for a period of three years.
The US State Department said in its statement Tuesday that the sanctions imposed include a ban on all US export licenses and permits for the benefit of the Defense Industries Administration.
The sanctions also provide for freezing the assets of Dr. Ismail Demir, head of the Department of Defense Industries, and other officials there, and the imposition of visa restrictions.
Ankara’s response to the above came first from Ismail Demir, who considered that the sanctions will not negatively affect the Ministry of Defense and the army, since defense projects are implemented through companies to which none of the sanctions, adding: “The sanctions will not affect the agreements signed before the date of the sanctions. “.
Erdogan and his foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşolu, considered that what Washington had done was an “assault on Turkish sovereignty”, and their main objective was to cut the way towards what the Turkish president described as the leaps that his country initiated in the industries defense, so that it did not depend on the outside.
In the last fifteen years, Turkey has significantly reduced its spending on arms imports, from the world’s third largest importer in the period 1995-1999 to the 15th place in the period 2015-2019, according to the International Peace Research Institute. from Stockholm. (SIPRI).
Turkish defense industries had grown significantly over the last decade, as the size of the Turkish arms industry increased from $ 1 billion in 2002 to $ 11 billion in 2020, with an export value of over 3,000. million dollars, which made Turkey ranked 14th in the world in volume. Defense exports.
However, the growing activity of the defense industries, which has grown since the coming to power of the “Justice and Development Party” in 2002, has faced several obstacles, the first of which is the weapon of sanctions that Americans and Europeans did not stop agitating in various circumstances.
Apart from that, there were other steel-related challenges from the Turkish defense industry itself and its reliance on international cooperation in significant research, development and design in some of the hundreds of weapons projects.
Based on what Alhurra saw from figures released by the US State Department, in 2017, the United States allowed more than $ 587 million in direct commercial sales from DCS to Turkey and shipped more than $ 106 million worth of equipment.
The following year (2018), the United States approved more than $ 600 million and shipped $ 136 million in weapons, while in 2019 more than $ 615 million were authorized and more than $ 66 million shipped.
From the previous figures that were recorded in the last three years, all the analyzes lead to the fact that the sanctions are likely to affect the contracts concluded between Washington and the Turkish Defense Industries Administration, which are worth between $ 1.5 billion. and $ 2.3 billion, at an estimated rate of 5% for Trade between the United States and Turkey.
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