Prof. Dr. Haluk Görgün, President of the Defense Industry Agency of Türkiye, and executives of Turkish defense industry companies held talks in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
The delegation, accompanied by Turkish Ambassador to Baku Cahit Görgün, visited the tomb of former Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev and Turkish and Azerbaijani martyrs' cemeteries. After laying a wreath at Heydar Aliyev's mausoleum, a wreath was presented to the Eternal Flame Monument in the Baku Martyrs' Cemetery, where the martyrs of January 20th were buried.
“We will contribute to Azerbaijan's defensive capabilities”
Commenting on his visit to Baku, Prof. Dr. Haluk Görgün, President of the Defense Industry Agency, stated that Turkish defense industry companies will contribute to Azerbaijan's defensive capabilities, and said, "We are continuing our work on different issues such as projects to be developed together, production facilities and technology transfer."
Stating that they held productive meetings during their two-day visit to Azerbaijan, Görgün noted that they were received by President İlham Aliyev. Görgün said that they also held separate meetings with Azerbaijan's Minister of Defense Zakir Hasanov and Minister of Defense Industries Vugar Mustafayev.
Görgün used the following expressions:
"As defense industry companies in Türkiye, we are trying to contribute to Azerbaijan's motivation and goals in developing its defense capabilities and supporting local production. We continue to work on different issues such as projects to be developed together, production facilities and technology transfer."
Speaking about the developments in the Turkish defense industry over the last 20 years, Görgün continued as follows:
"Technological advances have enabled us to meet our needs and reduce our dependence on foreign markets, while at the same time exporting our high-tech products competitively. We continue to increase our exports with an increase of 20 percent every year. Last year, our exports reached 5.5 billion dollars with an increase of 27 percent compared to the previous year. The contracts we signed in 2023 reached 10.5 billion dollars. Last year, we exported 230 different products to 185 countries. We have more work to do. We will continue to both meet our needs and contribute to our country's exports."
Among the defense industry executives accompanying Görgün were Temel Kotil, General Manager of TAI; Mehmet Akif Nacar, General Manager of HAVELSAN; Ahmet Akyol, General Manager of ASELSAN; Murat İkinci, General Manager of ROKETSAN; Behçet Karataş, General Manager of ASFAT; İlhami Keleş, General Manager of MKE; Özgür Güleryüz, General Manager of STM; İbrahim Külekçi, Group President of REPKON; and Emin Öner, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ASSAN.
