President Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that Turkey and Serbia have decided to work together on the development of their defense industry and that Turkish drones will be part of bilateral cooperation.
"Turkey and Serbia should take a joint step, but this step is the formation of a defense industry between us to ensure the preservation of peace," Erdogan said in Belgrade together with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
International demand for Turkish drones, primarily Baykar's "Bayraktar TB2" drones, has surged following their impact on conflicts in Syria, Libya, Azerbaijan and Ukraine. The company announced that they signed export contracts with about 30 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Kosovo and Poland.
"Turkey's capabilities in the field of drones will, of course, be part of the steps we will take in the field of defense industry," Erdogan added.
He said that Ankara and Belgrade will use their resources "as two friendly countries" to refine their cooperation, warning that no other country should try to interfere, even if they are not happy with it.
"There are people in the world who will look favorably on our cooperation and those who will not like it, that is natural, but since we are leaders, we should make these decisions sovereignly with our collaborators", he stated.
Vučić stated that there are many ideas on how the military industries of Serbia and Turkey could cooperate and that a team has already been formed that will consider what the Serbian Armed Forces need from Turkey and what the two countries could jointly develop in the future.
"The Turkish military industry is significantly stronger than ours. But, without false modesty, we are not to be neglected either. Within those frameworks, I see room for great cooperation," said Vučić. Vučić said that Serbia recently renewed export permits for Turkey and exported "a huge number of shells" to that country.
Vučić added that Serbia, after Poland, has the largest military budget in relation to the country's total budget in Europe, but that he is still not, and will never be, satisfied with the state of the military industry and the armed forces.
"I will not be satisfied because I know how important it is to have a strong industry in order to have peace. We are not interested in wars, but we have to have enough power to deter anyone," he said.
On Thursday, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said during Erdogan's visit that Ankara would provide Tirana with a "significant" number of kamikaze drones.
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