Abstract:

The Republic of Turkey gave up the ideal of establishing a national defense industry, which it had set as a target since the War of Independence, because the investments made between 1919-1947 were largely unsuccessful for different reasons. The emergence of the USSR threat pushed Turkey to become an ally with the USA after the war, and in 1952, Turkey came under the protection umbrella of NATO. In this period, especially the conditional weapons aid from the USA caused Turkey to experience an illusion of security. After the decision to intervene in Cyprus in 1964, with the letter sent by US President Johnson, Turkey became aware of the illusion it was in. The declaration to Turkey that the use of US-origin weapons to intervene in Cyprus would not be tolerated by the USA delayed the Cyprus intervention for ten years. Turkey understood that it was not possible to rely on foreign weapons to realize national interests in this period, and the national defense industry, which continued its development until today by re-adopting its founding goals. back to its strategy.

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