Türkiye Helping Strengthen Nato'S Defence Industry

For years, NATO's burden-sharing debate has focused on which country contributes enough. Turkey's answer is increasingly measured not only in troops and defense spending, but in what it can produce. In 2025, Turkey's defense and aerospace exports surpassed $10 billion for the first time. More than half went to NATO allies, the European Union, and the United States. Behind those figures is a broader transformation taking place. Turkey now supplies around 80% of its own military needs through domestic production alone, reducing reliance on foreign suppliers while expanding manufacturing capacity at a time when Europe is racing to rearm. That progress has drawn attention. Earlier this year, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte visited Assad's Technology Campus in Ankara and praised the country's growing defense industry. We are able collectively to increase the defense spending, but defense industrial production will be extremely important because we have to do better, we have to do more, and we can learn a lot from what Turkey is doing here. Everything you do here helps keep Turkey safe, but it also helps to keep the whole of the alliance safe with Turkey as a highly valuable ally. Last year's Hague Summit committed NATO allies to spending 5% of GDP on defense by 2035, putting industrial production at the heart of the alliance's long-term planning. While ensuring the burden sharing amongst the allies is balanced and fair, we also need to remove the barriers to the defense industry trade. In line with the commitments we adopted at the Hague Summit, we are increasing our defense spending and we rank among the top five allies contributing the most to NATO missions and operations. And another distinguishing feature of our Ankara Summit will be its emphasis on defense industry cooperation. At the NATO Defense Industry Forum we're organizing as part of the summit, we will both showcase our advanced products and discuss measures that will make this cooperation much more effective. The shift is already visible. Romania has signed a major deal with Otokar to manufacture armoured vehicles locally. Spain is also acquiring the Hujet advanced jet trainer. As allies look to expand defense production, Turkey is increasingly presenting itself not just as a consumer but as a manufacturing partner. The debate is no longer whether Turkey has a capable defense industry. The question now is what role it will play in NATO's supply chain, joint production programs and Europe's wider push to reinforce its defense capacity. The discussions made at this summit could shape that relationship for years to come.