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TURKEY JOINS WORLD'S TOP FIVE WEAPONS IMPORTERS
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
March 18 2013
Turkey has become the fourth-largest comventional weapons importer of
the world, a Swedish think tank revealed, despite ongoing attempts by
the country to shift the balance in favor of arms exports by
supporting research and development projects.
Turkey's weapon imports rose to $1.2 billion last year, up from $900
million the previous year, putting it in fourth place after India,
China and the United States, respectively, according to data recording
major arms transactions worldwide collected by the Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute. The report on "Trends in the
Arms Industry" showed that Turkey jumped to fourth place from its
ranking of 13th place a year earlier. The U.S. and China also made
similar bounds to the head of the table, up to third and second place,
respectively. The previous year had seen the U.S. rank number 12,
while China came in at number 11. The report reveals the biggest arms
supplier to Turkey remains the U.S., which has sold $772 million worth
of weapons, while Spain and France appear as new arms trade partners
of the country.
France has sold $10 million worth of industrial defense products,
while Spain has sold $111 million worth. According to the database,
the purchase of French weapons marks a first since 2003 for the
Turkish defense industry, despite France having been a close trading
partner up until that time.
The report came on the announcement of French Defense Minister
Jean-Yves Le Drian 's visit to Turkey on March 28 and 29, as a guest
of Turkish Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz to discuss cooperation
oppportunities between two countries in the defense field, while the
defense industry tenders will be at the top.
French companies had found themselves in a disadvantageous position in
Turkish defense industry tenders due to political disputes between two
countries stemming from French parliamentary bills recognizing
Armenian genocide claims from 1915.
Meanwhile, Turkey's exports, the figure that representatives of the
country have been watching most keenly, remained largely the same in
the overall ranking, moving up only one place to become the 24th
largest exporter globally, up from 25th in 2011.
Turkey has recently accelerated attempts to boost its arms exports,
especially to Middle Eastern countries, by developing locally produced
systems and allocating high amounts of investments to research and
development studies.
March/18/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-joins-worlds-top-five-weapons-importers.aspx?pageID=238&nID=43160&NewsCatID=344
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
March 18 2013
Turkey has become the fourth-largest comventional weapons importer of
the world, a Swedish think tank revealed, despite ongoing attempts by
the country to shift the balance in favor of arms exports by
supporting research and development projects.
Turkey's weapon imports rose to $1.2 billion last year, up from $900
million the previous year, putting it in fourth place after India,
China and the United States, respectively, according to data recording
major arms transactions worldwide collected by the Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute. The report on "Trends in the
Arms Industry" showed that Turkey jumped to fourth place from its
ranking of 13th place a year earlier. The U.S. and China also made
similar bounds to the head of the table, up to third and second place,
respectively. The previous year had seen the U.S. rank number 12,
while China came in at number 11. The report reveals the biggest arms
supplier to Turkey remains the U.S., which has sold $772 million worth
of weapons, while Spain and France appear as new arms trade partners
of the country.
France has sold $10 million worth of industrial defense products,
while Spain has sold $111 million worth. According to the database,
the purchase of French weapons marks a first since 2003 for the
Turkish defense industry, despite France having been a close trading
partner up until that time.
The report came on the announcement of French Defense Minister
Jean-Yves Le Drian 's visit to Turkey on March 28 and 29, as a guest
of Turkish Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz to discuss cooperation
oppportunities between two countries in the defense field, while the
defense industry tenders will be at the top.
French companies had found themselves in a disadvantageous position in
Turkish defense industry tenders due to political disputes between two
countries stemming from French parliamentary bills recognizing
Armenian genocide claims from 1915.
Meanwhile, Turkey's exports, the figure that representatives of the
country have been watching most keenly, remained largely the same in
the overall ranking, moving up only one place to become the 24th
largest exporter globally, up from 25th in 2011.
Turkey has recently accelerated attempts to boost its arms exports,
especially to Middle Eastern countries, by developing locally produced
systems and allocating high amounts of investments to research and
development studies.
March/18/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-joins-worlds-top-five-weapons-importers.aspx?pageID=238&nID=43160&NewsCatID=344