In late 2011, likely to the pride of millions of Turks, the state scientific research institute, TUBITAK, announced that its scientists would soon finish a missile with a range of 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) and in 2014 another with a range of 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles). Another missile with an 800-kilometer range was ready for precision tests.

Professor Yucel Altinbasak, head of TUBITAK, said the order for the missile program had come from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “This is a most realistic project,” he said. An engineer from the institute’s missile project group told state television TRT, “Turkish missiles [are] more advanced than US or German missiles.” Turkey's efforts toward offensive missile capabilities come at a time when the country is also trying to construct its first long-range air and anti-missile defense architecture.

This is a curious program, not only in terms of military technology but also in regard to international politics and security. With Turkey as the epicenter of a radius of 2,500 kilometers, some of the cities that could in theory experience Turkish missiles overhead include Algiers, Amman, Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Cairo, Copenhagen, Damascus, Geneva, Jeddah, Kiev, London, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Tehran, Tel Aviv, Tripoli, Vienna, Warsaw and Zurich. Which of these cities stand to be a future security threat to Turkey?

The Turkish missile program apparently matured when the Turco-Persian sectarian rivalry was heating up in 2011, with Tehran already in possession of 1,300-kilometer Shahab-3 missiles. Ankara's move was widely seen, however, as another indication that Turkey did not see a future in the largely interoperable NATO and European security structures, as evinced later by Erdogan’s repeated appeals to find a slot for Turkey in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.