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"Countries that cannot be independent in the field of defense cannot look to the future with confidence"

"Countries that cannot be independent in the field of defense cannot look to the future with confidence"

In his speech at the ceremony of awarding the new naval platforms, President Erdogan said: "Today, countries that cannot be strong and independent in the field of defense cannot look to the future with confidence."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took part in the ceremony of handing over the new naval platforms "Power to the Blue Motherland" at the Yalova Sefine shipyard and made a speech.

In his speech at the ceremony, President Erdogan began by greeting the participants and said that they had come together on the occasion of the presentation ceremony of projects that will further increase the deterrence of the navy.

Expressing confidence that each ship delivered will strengthen the power of the Turkish Navy, President Erdogan said: "TCG Derya, our replenishment combat support ship at sea, is distinguished by being the largest ship after TCG Anadolu. With the commissioning of TCG Derya, the fuel and water reserves of the floating units will be carried out quickly, and the fuel, integration and water needs of the combat elements will be easily met in areas close to the area of operation."

Stating that TCG Istanbul, the fifth ship of the MILGEM project, is the first national frigate produced by Turkey at the expense of domestic resources, President Erdogan said: "We have developed and integrated into this ship various radars, short-range air defense and electronic warfare systems with our own means. One of the systems integrated into TCG Istanbul is the National Vertical Launch System. Our logistics support ship, TCG Lieutenant Arif Ekmekçi, which we commissioned today, will meet the needs of combat units for fuel, fresh water and food."

Wishing that the delivered ships would benefit the Turkish Navy and armed forces, President Erdogan said: "On behalf of myself, on behalf of my country and my people, I would like to thank everyone and every institution that made us feel this joy and pride."

"MARLIN AUSV WILL GIVE CONFIDENCE TO FRIENDS AND FEAR TO ENEMIES THANKS TO ITS EXCELLENT TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS"

President Erdogan said: "Today, we are not only satisfied with the delivery of our ships, but we are also supplying our Navy with our world's first unmanned surface vehicle with electronic warfare capabilities. Our autonomous surface naval ship MARLIN AUSV will carry out reconnaissance, reconnaissance and surveillance, surface warfare, electronic warfare support and electronic attack missions in offline mode. With excellent technical characteristics, the MARLIN AUSV will maintain our dominance on the seas, give confidence to friends and fear to enemies."

Wishing the MARLIN AUSV to benefit the Navy, President Erdogan continued: "I congratulate our engineers, technicians and workers who gave life to the project, and express my gratitude to them. The secret of these successful projects lies in the close cooperation and coordination that is gradually developing between our institutions. Under the leadership of our President of the Defense Industry, the Command of the Naval Forces, military and private shipyards, relevant government agencies, universities, the private sector and small and medium-sized enterprises are working harmoniously. As coordination and mutual understanding between institutions strengthens, game-changing projects are emerging, as they are today. I sincerely believe that in the coming period we will achieve new successes by advancing this coordination much further."

President Erdogan said they were doing their job by adopting the motto of Barbaros Hayrettin Pasha, "He who dominates the seas dominates the world."

President Erdogan said that they have implemented many projects to ensure the security of the "Blue Homeland" with such an understanding that they have reached the level of localization of projects up to 80 percent.

"WE STRIVE TO ENSURE THAT AN ATMOSPHERE OF PEACE AND TRANQUILITY PREVAILS IN OUR REGION"

President Erdogan stated that they not only carry out the construction and roughing of ships, but also manufactured sensors, payloads, weapons and ammunition necessary for all ships built, President Erdogan continued: "In this context, a multi-purpose amphibious assault ship, a naval supply combat support ship, modernization of a Barbaros-class frigate, a Stack-class frigate and a logistics ship, a new type submarine, Modernization of Preveza-class submarines, a Turkish-type assault boat project, unmanned naval vehicles. All these are some of our projects that the Turkish defense industry has been proud of lately. These projects show that our goals in the defense industry are being realized one after another. First of all, everyone has to accept this moment now. Today, countries that cannot be strong and independent in the field of defense cannot look to the future with confidence."

Noting that the region in which the country is located is the geography where conflicts and political crises occur most intensively in the world, President Erdogan said: "From the Russian-Ukrainian war to the massacres in Gaza, from the persecution in Syria to the crisis in Libya, every event on the agenda of humanity is happening right next to it with us."

President Erdogan stressed that Turkey has made a name for itself as a monument to stability in the midst of all these tensions and crises, despite the obstacles that have been stumbling over for many years, and that it not only maintains stability and internal peace, but also makes efforts to end conflicts and ensure that a climate of peace prevails in the region and peace of mind.

"WE ARE CLOSELY MONITORING THOSE WHO PROVIDE UNLIMITED SUPPORT TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL."

Stating that the importance of the Istanbul process, which they initiated between Russia and Ukraine about 2 years ago, when they were in the first months of the conflict, is better understood today, President Erdogan said: "If this process, in which the military lobby mobilized all its means for sabotage, would have achieved its goal, tens of thousands of people They would have survived, so much destruction would not have been experienced, so much blood would not have been shed. We see that some circles in our country, especially those who mercilessly criticized us that day, give us the right today."

Also noting that the tragedy in Gaza causes the same regret, President Erdogan said: "Today, we are all carefully watching those who provide unlimited and unconditional support to the Israeli government by sending aircraft carriers to our region. Those who turn a blind eye to the massacres and atrocities committed by Israel will not be able to help but wish for tomorrow and will experience great grief. Those who injured a total of 100,000 people, especially the massacre of nearly 25,000 innocent Gazans, most of whom were children and women, will undoubtedly face devastating consequences."

"WESTERN COUNTRIES AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY INSTITUTIONS ARE NO LONGER TRUSTED"

Stating that they have already begun to observe the consequences of this situation in the international arena, President Erdogan continued: "To put it bluntly, Western countries and international security institutions, which have faced the latest bad test on the Gaza issue, no longer have any trust. When it came to words, the fascist faces of those who had not left the apostolate of democracy to anyone were revealed. Those who issue report cards on human rights and freedoms have not seen children, infants and women who were brutally murdered for 105 days. He did not take a single step to prevent oppression. As in Iraq, Bosnia, Syria, Yemen, Arakan, Somalia and Afghanistan, the institutions responsible for ensuring global security have failed, failed and suffered serious reputational damage. They could only watch how the barbarity of Netanyahu, the current Fuhrer, and his bloody and hateful team amounted to genocide of the Palestinian people."

President Erdogan said that Turkey is one of the countries that have raised their voice the most and reacted the most strongly to all these events, and that they have made every effort in terms of humanitarian assistance.

"OUR DEFENSE INDUSTRY HAS BECOME ONE OF THE INDUSTRIES THAT MAKE THE GREATEST CONTRIBUTION TO THE TURKISH ECONOMY"

Stressing that the decisive steps taken over the last 21 years in the field of defense industry were against the background of this situation, President Erdogan continued: "If you look back, if in 2002 only 62 defense projects were implemented in our country, today their number has exceeded 850. Again, in 2002, the budget for our defense projects was $5.5 billion, and today the same figure has reached about $90 billion with a 16-fold increase. With more than 3,500 companies and more than 80,000 employees, our defense industry has become one of the sectors making the greatest contribution to the Turkish economy.

We have become a country that meets the needs of friendly and fraternal countries, as well as ourselves, in land and sea vehicles."

President Erdogan said that in 2023 they sold 230 types of defense industry products to 185 countries and reached a total export amount of 5.5 billion dollars.

Stating that a new contract worth 10 billion 240 million dollars was signed during this period, President Erdogan said that Turkey is among the 10 countries that can design, build and maintain their own warships.

President Erdogan stressed that Turkey, a pioneer in the field of electronic warfare, is now among the top 3-4 countries in the world for the production of UAVs, and that they have achieved this not with the support of such great powers, and despite the difficulties created by global suppliers and the secret and open embargoes imposed by them.

"THE DEFENSE INDUSTRY IS A DYNAMICALLY DEVELOPING FIELD THAT REQUIRES HIGH WORK RATES"

Stating that those who had previously transferred weapons to Turkey were counting the bullets fired, President Erdogan said: "We have constantly faced obstacles in our fight against terrorism. We have overcome all these problems using weapons of our own design. We are capable of conducting counter-terrorism operations both inside and outside our borders. We will resolutely continue our fight against terrorism until the swamps of terrorism in Syria and Iraq are completely drained."

Stating that in the future they will focus on the development of various combat naval platforms, from unmanned and autonomous naval vehicles to underwater platforms and aircraft carriers, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles, President Erdogan said: "Of course, we do not forget about this fact by taking all these steps. The defense industry is a dynamically developing sphere, which in no case accepts a pause and requires continuous and dynamic work.

" "OUR GOAL is A FULLY INDEPENDENT TURKEY IN THE DEFENSE INDUSTRY"

Noting that the chairmanship of the defense industry, its stakeholders and defense industry organizations have important responsibilities in order to continue all the work done, President Erdogan said: "Our goal is a fully independent Turkey in the defense industry. Our top priority is to choose our own companies, our national organizations, our own developments and productions among equivalent products and projects in any field. Even if we outsource enough resources to meet immediate needs, the basis of our planning will certainly be based on national resources. I want it to be known that we will not allow any institution or project to act in the opposite direction."

Wishing that the new naval platforms they have delivered would benefit the country and the defense industry, President Erdogan said: "May your sea be calm. Be healthy."

After the completion of the program, President Erdogan was presented with a shield with new naval platforms supplied to the Navy, a mock-up of TCG Istanbul, the first frigate of the Turkish Navy produced at the expense of domestic and national resources, as well as a table with signatures of personnel who worked on the construction of the TCG Derya ship.

At the ceremony, President Erdogan presented the commanders of the delivered ships with certificates of acceptance for service in Flanders. Then the commanders took the oath of office and began to perform their duties.