Ankara recently hosted an eager crowd at the first Turkish Defense Industry Summit, but all the accompanying fanfare wasn’t enough to hide the most significant flaw in Turkey's own defense program — foreign dependence. All of Turkey’s state-controlled defense industries were represented at the Dec. 12 summit, held at the Presidential Complex and organized by the Defense Industries Undersecretariat (SSM), which is tasked with developing the country's industry and modernization of the Turkish Armed Forces.
The SSM has been under the direct authority of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan since 2017. The Turkish Armed Forces Foundation (TSKGV), the state-controlled giant that owns majority shares in Turkey’s top defense companies, was also moved from the Defense Ministry to Erdogan's desk in 2017.
