Turkey Seeks Record Defense Budget, Readying For Regional War
Turkey aims to spend a total of $47 billion on defense and security for the next year, its highest ever spending, a government budget proposal showed on Thursday.
Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said during a briefing at the presidency that the government aims to earmark 913.9 billion Turkish lira ($26.8bn) for defense spending. This would also include 165 billion lira needed for the defense industry support fund.
The budget also envisions 694.5 billion lira for domestic security needs, which cover the interior ministry, the police, the national intelligence agency and other related agencies' expenditure.
Turkey's defense spending has been steadily increasing in recent years. The 2024 defense and security budget was around $40bn, meaning 2025's defense spending will see a 17.5 percent increase.
Ankara is running military operations in Syria and Iraq, and operates military bases in Libya, Somalia and Qatar. Additionally, it has a permanent presence in Northern Cyprus.
Since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power in 2003, the Turkish government has been making large investments in the local arms industry, from armed drones, ballistic missiles and cannons to national warships, tank projects and armored vehicles.
Regional escalations
Ankara is also concerned by the military escalations in the region. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in televised remarks on Thursday that Turkey has to ready itself for an Israel-Iran war, and would therefore take every measure available.
The government earlier this month put forward a new tax venue to inject more cash into the Defense Industry Support Fund. The scheme proposed asking citizens who have credit cards with limits above 100,000 lira to annually pay 750 lira to cover the additional defense projects ordered by the government.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) withdrew the proposal earlier this week after severe criticism from the public. The opposition and experts said it was unconstitutional because it was seeking a fee from a credit line rather than an actual income. Ankara is currently exploring other means to satisfy the expenditure.
Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek earlier this week said the government had ordered the defense industry to focus on building a "Steel Dome" to protect the country against possible aerial threats, including missiles and drones.
"These are expensive systems in terms of advanced technology," he told Turkish NTV. "We have been investing money in the 5th generation aircraft for a long time. Now the engine needs to be developed."
Simsek added that over 1,000 projects in the defense industry were currently underway. "All of them are high technology," he said. "From long-range instruments to 5th generation fighter jets to air defense systems…These are all expensive."