At the opening remarks to the gathering, SinerjiTürk Effective Business and Power Platform President Abdullah Ra?it Gülhan stating that SinerjiTürk had targeted the transfer of the brain drain to brain power and said, “They all have sensitivity toward their country because they are Turkish. This sensitivity is expanding and getting stronger. SinerjiTürk in a way is becoming a structure that strengthens the bond and that joins it with a strong adherence.” Indicating that compared to the first gathering total participation had increased nearly 50 percent and participation from overseas had seen a 100 percent increase, Gürhan said that, nevertheless, they had not reached the point that they had targeted. He went on to add that, “We have met with our Minister and Undersecretary to set next year’s program six months beforehand. Our goal is to attain an overseas participation of 50 percent and a domestic participation of 50 percent.”

Indicating that they were continuing with the work on turning SinerjiTürk to a foundation, Gülhan conveyed to the participants that the Directorate General of Foundations was evaluating the foundation voucher and that they were aiming to complete the applications received on this in a short while. Gülhan said, “We will invite the 195,000 Turks on our address list. What I want is that these 195,000 individuals become a member of our foundation.”

The Undersecretary for the Defence Industry Murad Bayar in his remarks stated that as information is shared its value increases and that these meetings carried great importance in cooperation and in sharing information.

Emphasizing that the defence industry had become the leading industry in Turkey Bayar said, “What is just as important as companies expanding their capacity is for them to develop their “business collaborations.” Stating that successful examples of collaboration had been realized between primary contractors and small and medium-scale enterprises, between industry and universities, state agencies and industry and domestic and foreign industry, Bayar noted that by making these examples systematic, the target should be to make them widespread and permanent.

Expressing the view that supportability in the procurement of military equipment and developing a sustainable defence industry was their objective, Bayar noted that the domestic contribution rate for the Turkish Armed Forces’ operational requirements had reached 44 percent. The Undersecretary added, “We are hoping to increase this rate to 50 percent this year.” Indicating that the defence industry’s sales in 2008 were 2.8 billion USD, exports were around 800 million USD, Bayar said, “We have targeted exports to be one billion USD in 2011.”

Stating that they had allocated 500 billion USD to defence industry companies for R&D in 2008, Bayar added that the defence industry allocates the largest amount for R&D in Turkey and that to answer the requirements of the Turkish Armed Forces in the most effective manner, to attain a structure that can generate technology and products in Turkey and to make the industry undertake collaboration in the world was their sincere wish and for this reason, said Bayar, they had updated their strategic plan.

Indicating that they would start measuring individual sales, the Undersecretary said, “We have a 250,000 USD target.” Bayar pointed out that the cost of the projects presently being carried out was 22 billion USD and that nearly half were domestic technology development projects.

Bayar emphasized that overseas direct procurement for the Turkish Armed Forces’ equipment requirements was below 10 percent and that they were working to meet these requirements from local companies. Murad Bayar said, “The amount we spend to procure the new equipment requirements of the Turkish Armed Forces is maximum 3-4 billion USD annually. We buy 10 billion USD of medicine each year. We spend 10 billion USD on mobile phones in Turkey. We think that the technology capacity formed in the defence industry can be directly used in the health, energy and transport public sectors.” Explaining that a contraction may occur in domestic demand and this creates a risk, the Undersecretary went on to say that for this reason with exports and international business collaborations the risk of meeting the similar requirements of public agencies would decline.

Speaking at the opening session, the Minister of National Defence Vecdi Gönül said, “The Turkish Armed Forces is an organization that should be equipped in the best possible way,” and continued by saying: “The point we are trying to accomplish during our tenure is not to undertake direct procurement. Direct procurement has its very attractive points. First, you have to buy a good that has been tried before. Those that want to sell it may make a very nice offer. They have very attractive persuasion methods but what we want to accomplish is not just to equip our armed forces. Since we are living in this region, strategically we are at an important location and since our armed forces traditionally are required to be Turkey’s best organization, it has to be the best equipped organization. In that case let us do this with our national resources. So that during our tenure of duty, the direct procurement of materials does not surpass 10 percent and these are definitely not economical to be produced in Turkey but are materials in which we are trying to regain its technology. And I don’t think that I have to mention that these are somewhat critical materials as well. But aside from this what we are doing is: This has to be made in Turkey. Do we have a requirement for something? It must be done here. For example, an infantry rifle. For the first time our soldiers, God willing, will receive a national infantry rifle in a short time. Since the Ottoman period a Turkish made infantry rifle will not have G-6, M-16 or whatever written on the side, a machine gun, a grenade launcher. This has a morale side as well.”

The Minister of National Defence Gönül indicated that where Turkey cannot manufacture defence industry materials and arms by herself she undertakes it through joint production methods and said: “If we can’t do it by ourselves we will produce it jointly. If that can’t be done either and we are left in a difficult situation, we will definitely buy offset. If we produce it jointly it’s still going to be offset. The benefit that this brings is not only monetary and economy but most important technology.”

Mentioning that another principle they have is to transfer production to the private sector, Minister Gönül continued by stating, “We attach importance to this for two reasons: Turkey is not behind any country either in technology or trained personnel. However, if it’s not transferred to the private sector, it it’s not outsourced, we will be lacking in two matters. The first is that the technology produced by public agencies when retired or with the project’s completion will disappear; it will not pass on to the civilian sector. In other words, whereas it’s possible to use an appliance we used, it will not be possible to use it for a weapon. The second point is that the private sector should enter the defence industry, for if tomorrow someone brings direct procurement to the agenda again, the private sector can stake a claim, you lay a claim to it.”

In the two day activities the General Manager of Havelsan Faruk Yarman, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alp Aviation Tuncer Alpata, FNSS Marketing and Strategy Director Haluk Bulucu, Neta? CEO Müjdat Altay, Cem Sapmaz from Atard, the General Manager of Yüksel Defence Hayri Esen, SDT General Manager Fatih Ünal, Bites General Manager U?ur Ço?kun, Ostim Clustering Chairman of the Board of Directors Orhan Ayd?n, Aneltech Deputy General Manager Hakan Ça?lar, Koç University Associate Professor Hakan Ürey and METU Head of the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Professor Naf?z Alemdaro?lu took place at the panels and made presentations.