Turkey Defence and Security Report Q3 2012

As NATO's only Muslim member, and occupying a unique geographical position at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East and Asia, Turkey's defence and security situation has great strategic importance to all of these regions and to the wider world. BMI's Defence and Security report examines Turkey's armed forces; its internal and external security challenges; defence industry and the country's defence procurement activity. BMI believes that Turkey will continue to suffer security challenges for some time in the form of the continued Kurdish nationalist insurgency affecting the country, and from the wider fallout from the tense security situation in the Middle East at large. Nevertheless, the country's armed forces will continue to play an active role in NATO and meet any future challenges to Turkey's security.

BMI's Defence and Security Report has several key findings. In terms of domestic security, the Kurdish insurgency continues to challenge the country's policymakers and its armed forces. While a military response is seeking to contain and ultimately end this insurgency, a political solution in the form of negotiations could become increasingly important in helping to stop the violence once and for all. At the external level, Turkey continues to suffer the fallout from the deteriorating security situation inside Syria.

Ankara will have to tread a delicate path to ensure that Turkey's territorial sovereignty is not violated by the Syrian armed forces, while at the same time working to prevent the crisis from spilling over into the wider Middle East region.

In terms of the Turkish armed forces procurement, the government must ensure that the military has the latest materiel. This can be achieved by continuing to utilise Turkey's position as a trusted recipient of advanced defence hardware from the United States. Finally, the Turkish government must assist the growth of the domestic defence industry. This can be best achieved by purchasing indigenous materiel when appropriate, and encouraging continuing research and development efforts.

Since the publication of BMI's last Turkey Defence and Security report, a number of changes have been made. These include:

A discussion of Turkey's continuing attempts to contain the rapidly escalating political crisis inside Syria.

An examination of the continued tense relations existing between Turkey and Israel, particularly in the light of the deployment of a NATO ballistic missile early warning radar in south-western Turkey.

An update regarding the efforts of the Turkish government to investigate and bring to justice alleged perpetrators of an attempted coup which reportedly involved senior members of the armed forces.

Details of the Turkish government’s latest acquisition efforts across the multirole combat aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and trainer aircraft upgrade domains.