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Is Turkey's Arms Industry Changing Equations?
Commentary Magazine
02.24.2013
Michael Rubin | @mrubin1971
Word out of Turkey is that Roketsan-Turkey's domestic missile
manufacture-has just concluded a nearly $200 million deal with the
United Arab Emirates. Turkey has made no secret of its desire to build
up its arms industry. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ=9Fan
has, for example, beseeched the Obama administration to provide Turkey
with drones at the same time that a Turkish armament company was
trying to develop Turkish drones for export.
Turkey has taken an increasingly activist approach to the Middle
East. It has supported the radical al-Nusra Front, designated a terror
group by the Obama administration, because it prefers violent
jihadists over secular Kurds. (Last week, Turkey's Foreign Minister
Ahmet DavutoÄ=9Flu dismissed those who labeled the al-Qaeda affiliate
`Jihadists' as little more than `American neo-cons and Israelis.' The
fact that Turkey is willing to arm radical Islamists at odds with
U.S. strategic interests certainly marks a new era.
The Roketsan deal should also raise concern: While the United Arab
Emirates is a U.S. ally, it is also the trans-shipment point for
contraband heading to Iran. The Turkish government makes no secret of
its solidarity with Hamas; the time is not long off that Turkey might
supply Hamas with weaponry instead of just cash.
It's not just U.S. national security at stake. As part of his
pre-confirmation conversion on pretty much all his previous positions,
defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel has affirmed the importance of
Israel's qualitative military edge (QME). Traditionally, the Pentagon
calculates the QME relative to U.S. arms sales to Arab countries. Gone
are the days, however, when the United States (and perhaps France and
Great Britain) on one hand, and the Soviet Union (and perhaps East
Germany and Czechoslovakia) supplied their respective Arab client
states with arms. Today, it's a free-for-all. Turkey supports
Islamists and terrorists. Sweden is ready to cash in on the
action. When it comes to Israel's QME, the situation has gone
metaphorically from middle school arithmetic to multi-variable
calculus.
Alas, while Hagel says he will maintain Israel's QME, neither he nor
Obama have suggested their commitment is going to take into account
other regional states that are increasingly willing to flood Arab
armies with hi-tech weaponry with little or no regard to what they
might mean for Israel's ability to defend itself.
Commentary Magazine
02.24.2013
Michael Rubin | @mrubin1971
Word out of Turkey is that Roketsan-Turkey's domestic missile
manufacture-has just concluded a nearly $200 million deal with the
United Arab Emirates. Turkey has made no secret of its desire to build
up its arms industry. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ=9Fan
has, for example, beseeched the Obama administration to provide Turkey
with drones at the same time that a Turkish armament company was
trying to develop Turkish drones for export.
Turkey has taken an increasingly activist approach to the Middle
East. It has supported the radical al-Nusra Front, designated a terror
group by the Obama administration, because it prefers violent
jihadists over secular Kurds. (Last week, Turkey's Foreign Minister
Ahmet DavutoÄ=9Flu dismissed those who labeled the al-Qaeda affiliate
`Jihadists' as little more than `American neo-cons and Israelis.' The
fact that Turkey is willing to arm radical Islamists at odds with
U.S. strategic interests certainly marks a new era.
The Roketsan deal should also raise concern: While the United Arab
Emirates is a U.S. ally, it is also the trans-shipment point for
contraband heading to Iran. The Turkish government makes no secret of
its solidarity with Hamas; the time is not long off that Turkey might
supply Hamas with weaponry instead of just cash.
It's not just U.S. national security at stake. As part of his
pre-confirmation conversion on pretty much all his previous positions,
defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel has affirmed the importance of
Israel's qualitative military edge (QME). Traditionally, the Pentagon
calculates the QME relative to U.S. arms sales to Arab countries. Gone
are the days, however, when the United States (and perhaps France and
Great Britain) on one hand, and the Soviet Union (and perhaps East
Germany and Czechoslovakia) supplied their respective Arab client
states with arms. Today, it's a free-for-all. Turkey supports
Islamists and terrorists. Sweden is ready to cash in on the
action. When it comes to Israel's QME, the situation has gone
metaphorically from middle school arithmetic to multi-variable
calculus.
Alas, while Hagel says he will maintain Israel's QME, neither he nor
Obama have suggested their commitment is going to take into account
other regional states that are increasingly willing to flood Arab
armies with hi-tech weaponry with little or no regard to what they
might mean for Israel's ability to defend itself.