Erdoğan vows to end dependence on foreign defense goods

Turkey's president vowed on July 8 to eliminate the nation's dependence on foreign-made defense products.

"We will continue to increase our investments in the defense industry until we completely free our country from foreign dependence," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said at the opening ceremony of a maintenance hangar for A400M strategic airlifters in the capital Ankara.

Erdoğan criticized some countries for rejecting Turkey's requests to purchase weapons while supplying them to terrorists in Syria through thousands of truck and plane flights under the guise of the fight against the terror group ISIL.

"We are determined to overcome all the injustices and unlawfulnesses we encounter in the defense of our homeland by taking matters into our own hands," Erdoğan continued.

"Our so-called friends did everything they could to weaken us in the cross-border operations we carried out to ensure the safety of our citizens," he added, referring to Turkey's operations into border areas of Syria and northern Iraq to pursue PKK and YPG/PKK terrorists taking shelter there.

Erdoğan stressed that the projects implemented recently by the current government are the most critical investments yet for the future of the Turkish defense industry.

Erdoğan, Zelensky discuss ties

Meanwhile, later on July 9, Erdoğan held a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. 

During the phone call, the two leaders discussed issues that will develop Turkey-Ukraine relations, Turkey's Presidency said on Twitter.

They also discussed regional developments, it added.

aviation, economy,