ANKARA, July 8 (BV) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey aims to meet NATO’s 5% defence and security-related spending target by 2030, five years before the alliance’s 2035 deadline.
Speaking at the NATO summit in Ankara, Erdogan said Turkey had already taken steps to raise defence spending to 3.5% before 2030 and had reached 1.5% in spending linked to security and resilience.
Erdogan said Turkey’s biggest achievement was its defence industry, adding that the country had entered the world’s top 10 in defence production and export capacity.
He said Ankara planned to meet almost all of the 361 capability targets assigned by NATO within three years and had allocated an additional $24 billion for the Steel Dome air and missile defence project.
“As the country with the largest land army in Europe, we are working to make our capabilities available to the alliance when needed,” Erdogan said.
He also called for the removal of restrictions among allies in defence cooperation and warned EU members against excluding non-EU NATO allies from European defence initiatives.
On Ukraine, Erdogan said Turkey would continue supporting Kyiv while keeping communication channels open with Russia to encourage peace.