Superpowers eye cooperation with Ankara on drones, says Turkish president

ANKARA

Some superpowers in the world are looking to make “joint investments” with Türkiye in unmanned aerial vehicles, the country’s president said on Saturday.

“We spoke of this with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin yesterday. We also spoke in Tehran. Now, there are superpowers in the world that want to make joint investments with us in this field as well,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at an event in the northwestern province of Kocaeli.

Erdogan added that Turkish-made drones, including Bayraktar TB2 armed drones, were in demand among countries.

Previously, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said that during a meeting last month in the Iranian capital Tehran, Putin conveyed to Erdogan a request to purchase the Bayraktar-type drones.

“The whole world now accepts the capabilities of our armed drones, which have proven themselves on the battlefield, to rewrite the doctrines of war,” he added.

Today, when “unmanned combat aerial vehicles” are mentioned, Türkiye is the first country to come to mind, said the president.

“Türkiye, which once imported even the most basic defense needs, today sells billions of dollars of advanced technology products to many countries,” Erdogan added.

Turkish-made unmanned aerial vehicles get world-wide attention after having proven themselves in Türkiye’s anti-terror operations, in the ongoing war in Ukraine, and formerly in the 2020 Azerbaijan-Armenia war.

• Drones
• Recap Tayyaip Erdogan
• Turkiye