Rarely a day passes in Turkey without newspapers trumpeting another success story in the defense industry. In the past two years, in particular, the defense and aviation sectors have become rich propaganda material in a government rhetoric exalting nativism and nationalism in almost every realm.
Amid the avalanche of exaggerated praise, realistic assessments of the state of the Turkish defense industry are also available. Last week, the Defense and Aerospace Industry Manufacturers Association released its 2017 sectoral performance report, which, in a sense, is the report card of the Turkish defense industry for last year. The document paints a generally successful year, but indicates that the sector should now focus on sustaining growth, drawing a cautiously optimistic picture of the future.
