ANKARA: Turkish defense and aviation industry exports almost doubled over the past five years, reaching a staggering $7.6 billion, according to export figures revealed by the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM). The newly released data showed last year Turkey’s defense and aviation industry exports experienced a 1.4 percent growth, as it increased from $1.65 billion in 2015 to $1.68 billion. Back in 2011, the country’s defense and aviation exports were worth only $883 million. With the rise in the industry’s export performance and rate of exchange, the export numbers of the defense and aviation sector increased by 12.65 percent on the basis of Turkish lira. In 2016, the defense and aviation industry crossed the TL 5 billion ($1.38 billion) threshold and exports reached TL 5.68 billion, following TL 4.5 billion in 2015. December 2016 saw the monthly highest in exports with $212 million, while the lowest was in July with $97 million.
According to data, one-third of last year’s exports worth about $587 million were received by the United States. The U.S. was followed by Germany with $185 million, Malaysia with $99 million and Azerbaijan with $83 million. Meanwhile, India showed some remarkable interest on Turkish defense and aviation products as its import figures of $235,000 in 2015 grew exponentially to reach $47 million in 2016. The United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia were also among the other countries importing Turkish defense and aviation goods.
