Turkey’s NATO ally, Canada, had revoked the technology export permit to Turkey for the production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Canada suspended exports in October to investigate this situation, following the news that the UAVs produced by Turkey were used by the Azerbaijani army against Armenia in the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to BBC News, Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau announced that the export permit was canceled after it was detected that UAVs and AUAVs produced in Turkey were used in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Garneau said, “The use of technology in this way is inconsistent with Canada’s foreign policy and Turkey’s end-user commitments.” said.
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met with Garnau at the beginning of the week and conveyed his dissatisfaction with Canada’s stance on export restrictions and asked for this situation to be reviewed.
In a statement from the Turkish Embassy in Ottawa, “We expect our NATO allies to refrain from taking non-constructive steps that will adversely affect our bilateral relations and harm alliance solidarity.” it was said.
Canadian company L3Harris Wescam was selling imaging and targeting systems used in unmanned aerial vehicles to Turkey.
Canada stated that Turkish SİHAs were also used in Libya and that this was a violation of the United Nations’ embargo.
Canada had previously suspended export permits in October 2019 due to Turkey’s operations in Syria, and permits were granted again in May 2020.
Domestic answer for the embargo: ASELSAN CATS
In the face of this attitude of Canada, which is far from the values of alliance, the answer came from the Turkish defense industry.
CATS cameras, which have recently been put into mass production, are now used on platforms such as Bayraktar TB2 and ANKA.
ASELSAN-produced CATS cameras, which are one of the most important examples of the measures taken against the embargoes and the localization steps taken; It is a high-performance electro-optical reconnaissance, surveillance and targeting system developed for fixed-wing or rotary-wing aerial platforms, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), helicopters and aircraft.
The steps taken by the Turkish defense industry in the face of these embargoes, which were designed as a policy of intimidation as a result of the just struggles in the Mediterranean, the Sea of Islands, Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh, continue to be appreciated.
Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank also closely follows the steps taken by the Turkish defense industry and its responses to sanctions.
Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank made a statement on his official Twitter account, “I just looked, there are many people who see this news and feel happy. What a pity! Let me tell them to keep their joy in their crops: Turkey does not have any UAV parts imported from Canada. There were cameras installed as payloads on SİHAs, and ASELSAN is now producing them.” said.
ASELSAN, the leading company of the Turkish defense industry, underlined that they are at the service of the Turkish nation, in a post on their official social media accounts.
In the statement made on ASELSAN’s official Twitter account, “As Turkey’s ASELSAN, we are at the service of our nation with our domestic and national electro-optical reconnaissance, surveillance and targeting system CATS.” statements were included.
All these embargoes point to the further development of the Turkish defense industry. It is a big and important step that the sanction imposed by Canada activates ASELSAN and that CATS is now used in our SİHAs. The embargoes reveal the importance of domestic production and the Turkish defense industry is always working to do better.
You cannot say impossible to the Turkish nation
Throughout its thousands of years of history, the Turks never gave up and continued to move towards their goal. The Turks sometimes slowed down or went through difficult paths, but they definitely continued to move towards their goal.
Embargoes applied to Turkey are always seen as a big step for domestic production because with domestic production, foreign dependency will be eliminated.
Republic of Turkey will remain forever!
