Italy-Turkey: tale of an expanding bridge

A little over a month ago, 70 companies operating in the Turkish defense sector, including Aselsan, Roketsan and FNSS, formed the Defense Industry Exporters Union.

On Jan. 10, Latif Aral Aliş, president of the newly born association, declared to the press “the union’s goal is to increase exports from $1 billion to $2 billion.”

Undeniably, the Turkish defense industry has experienced a boom over the past decade; according to the commercial office data of the Italian Embassy in Ankara, the overall growth of the sector has well passed 30 percent between 2003 and today.

Clear understandings breed long friendship

But let’s turn our attention to the two-day summit “Italy-Turkey Defense Industry Days,” which took place in Rome in January. It ended with the writing of a memorandum of understanding and a letter of intent. The documents were jointly signed by official delegations from the two countries. The two-day meeting brought together 20 Turkish and 40 Italian companies that sought business opportunities in a fruitful business-to-business session. The venue was the Centre for High Defense Studies (CASD) in Rome.

Turkish Defense Industry Undersecretary Murad Bayar headed the Turkish delegation, which counted among its participants major companies such as Aselsan, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), Roketsan and Havelsan, as well as other medium-scale enterprises. Finmeccanica was one of the Italian contractors participating in the event. The giant, leading manufacturer in the high technology sector considers Turkey to be a strategic partner.

Finmeccanica, among the top 10 global players in aerospace, defense and security, has teamed up with Turkey in the production of T-129 ATAK, Turkey’s first attack helicopter. The delivery of “one of the best helicopters in the world” -- according to Undersecretary Bayar -- will be released later, in the spring.

Other significant Italy-Turkey production assets are coming out of relevant merging relationships, including the one represented with the Astaldi Group. A key player in the industrial building sector, Astaldi won, at the end of 2011, the concession for the design, construction and operation of Ankara’s Etlik, planned to be the biggest hospital center in Europe. In a joint venture with Turkish construction company Türkerler, the total investment will be 940 million euros. The entire facility will be operational starting in 2015.

Paving the way

Italy continues to be a major sponsor of Turkey’s journey toward stronger integration with Europe. This position also emerged during the Ita-Turk Dialogue Forum, which took place in İstanbul last November. Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Giulio Terzi explained that Italy strongly supports Turkey’s orientation toward Europe and that Europe could not attain all of its objectives without Turkey.

Let’s take a closer look: In fact, as we observe the latest Middle East crises -- from Palestine to Iran, from Syria to Egypt, from Afghanistan to Iraq -- we see the West, when looking for a solution, could never do without Turkey, which has proved to be an irreplaceable ally. Italy has made it very clear it will put in all possible efforts in order to facilitate Turkey’s integration into Europe. To this end, the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPAT) has proved to be a very constructive instrument. With an online, guided procedure to the investment process, along with research and analysis on Turkey’s competitiveness in various fields, the potential investor is given a clear overview. Through the use of an interactive map, along with various charts, the venture process is richly simplified.

Turkey is ready to enter Europe. Certainly, there are some doubts as to the color of the ribbon, but apart from that, the participants are at the starting line.

*Eleonora Galasso is a freelance journalist based in Rome.