Türkiye’s Defense Sector

As part of an ongoing market research series, Evidencity selects countries, sectors, and companies of global economic interest to research through our own platform. The summarized results from the Evidencity Relational Cloud and our own local researchers are in the below overview. Feel free to visit our product catalog, or request access to our pay-as-you-go open source research platform.

Türkiye has often been in the news this year. In March, Ukrainian soldiers sang songs about Turkish drones. Over the Northern Hemisphere Spring, Türkiye’s president Recep Tayyip Erdo?an blocked then released the addition of Sweden and Finland to NATO. And Erdo?an’s ongoing mediation between Russia and the West have kept Türkiye in the news in 2022.

More interesting, however, is the tightrope Türkiye walks across the broadening gulf between the West, led by Washington, London, and Brussels, and Putin’s Russia. Though a member of NATO, Türkiye continues to chart its own path, one that over the past several years, and most notably in 2022, has been marked by the country’s significant and growing defense industry.?

Looking through the lens of the companies covered, we may conclude that the leadership of Türkiye’s defense sector suppliers have close connections with Türkiye’s current ruling party and administration – not a surprising discovery. Separately, however, Türkiye’s public contracts database appears to be misaligned with actual public contract activity as applied to the defense sector, as many contracts publicized in the media were not discovered in the database. Also interesting is how UBO discovery of these companies reveals a close relationship between the elite Turkish businessmen in charge of these companies and the same social/business class of Qatari nationals engaged in the same sector and interests.

What follows is a limited overview of each company, based on the results of our team’s research.

Türkiye’s BMC OTOMOT?V SANAY? VE T?CARET ANON?M ??RKET? (BMC), a vehicle manufacturer for the commercial and defense sectors, was established in Istanbul on October 14, 2010, though the company website mentions an incorporation date of 1964. Declared capital was approximately USD17MM.?

The most recent information on corporate ownership reveals two owners: Tosyali Holding, a Turkish steel manufacturing conglomerate, and the Qatar Armed Forces Industry Committee (?????? ??????? ???????). Tosyali Holding is the majority shareholder.

Turkish national, Fuat Tosyali, is the Chairman of the Board. Nasser Jaralla, a Qatari citizen, is the Vice-Chairman. There are six other board members; two are Turkish nationals. Four are Qatari nationals.

Mr. Tosyali’s position as Chairman of the Board for BMC exposes the company to the Türkiye Wealth Fund, where he is a member of the board along with the president of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Separately, the Qatar Armed Forces Industry Committee is in part owned by the national government of Qatar.?

Our team found it interesting that several media outlets reported BMC has won several public contracts and supplied the Turkish Armed Forces with vehicles, though the official Turkish public contracts databases returned no evidence of the same.

Türkiye’s SARSILMAZ S?LAH SANAY? ANON?M ??RKET? (Sarsilmaz Firearms Corporation), a firearms manufacturer for the commercial and defense sectors, was established in Elaz?? on June 3, 1982. Company headquarters are now in Istanbul. Declared capital was approximately USD4MM.?

Latif Aral Ali? and Yetkin Ali? are the two primary shareholders. Latif Aral Ali? is Chairman of the Board, and two other Turkish nationals are members.

According to the official website, the company was formed during the Ottoman Empire (dating before the foundation of the Republic of Türkiye), and is the only company in Türkiye authorized to produce firearms.

Türkiye’s BAYKAR MAK?NA SANAY? VE T?CARET ANON?M ??RKET? (BaykarTech), a drone and unmanned vehicle manufacturer, was established in Istanbul on April 17, 1986. Declared capital was approximately USD395K.

Sel?uk Bayraktar and Lütfü Haluk Bayraktar are the two majority shareholders of the company. Both sit on the board, along with Canan Bayraktar. Sel?uk Bayraktar is married to Sumeyye Erdo?an, the president’s younger daughter.

Türkiye’s Electronic Public Procurement Platform shows two government contracts with the Turkish Armed Forces. The details of the contracts are not disclosed other than that one was for the rental of drones to combat forest fires and the other was for the rental of four drones for undisclosed reasons.

Türkiye’s ARES TERSANEC?L?K SANAY? VE T?CARET ANON?M ??RKET? (Ares Shipyard), a commercial and military watercraft manufacturer, was established in Trabzon on the coast of the Black Sea in 2006 and moved to Antalya, Türkiye on April 6, 2009. Declared capital was approximately USD5.6MM.

Chairman and majority shareholder Kerim Kalafato?lu, vice chairman Mert Kalafato?lu, and board member Ersan Kotil?o?lu are all Turkish nationals, where the Kalafato?lu family members own, together, over 75% of the company.

Ares Shipyard has won several contracts to provide the Turkish Ministry of Interior Coast-Guard with interdiction vessels. The company has also serviced contracts won with the governments of Qatar, the Northern Republic of Cyprus, Bahrain, and Oman.