President Gül Attends Hand-over Ceremony of A400M Plane to Air Force

Delivering a speech at the ceremony held at the Kayseri 12th Air Transportation Main Base Command in order to hand over the A400M Plane known as Atlas, in the production of which Turkey is one of the partners, to the Air Force, President Gül noted that Turkey is the second country after France that has included the A400M in its arsenal, adding: “With its strong economy, Turkey has resolutely continued to meet the Armed Forces’ needs.”

President Abdullah Gül attended the ceremony held at the Kayseri 12th Air Transportation Main Base Command in order to hand over the A400M Plane to the Air Force.

TURKEY’S DIFFICULT GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION

Turkey, the President said, is one of the countries that made planes before producing cars and shared his pride in the fact that “Turkey today has become a country which is among the partners that make the world’s most developed aircraft. While many countries have had to cut down on expenditures on defense in this global crisis, Turkey, with its strong economy, has resolutely continued to meet the Armed Forces’ needs.

President Gül maintained that Turkey is located in a difficult region in terms of defense and security strategies, saying: “It is fact that a number of the existing problems are occuring near and around Turkey and these problems will most probably continue to take place in this geography in the future as well. Therefore, the administrations in Turkey have always acted resolutely to strengthen the deterrent capacities of the Turkish Armed Forces as part of the threat perceptions. Toward this aim, we received the early warning aircraft, the AWACS during a ceremony held last February in Konya, and today, we are all proud to have strengthened our air transportation squadron with the international military transportation planes of the future. We will receive another 9 such planes. We already have the C160s and C130s in our arsenal which we have used on several occasions such as in Afghanistan as part of the ISAF, in transporting our special police forces from and to Iraq, in Libya and the aftermath of natural disasters like those in Van and Pakistan.”

GREAT STEP TAKEN AS PER NATO’S STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS

Reiterating that Turkey has taken an important step according to NATO’s new strategy development programs, President Gül recalled that during a meeting held in 2012 in Chicago, where he was also present, NATO reached a decision that the capacities of the member countries will be developed in a way that will help them function with NATO’s other elements. “Thus, we are reaching a capacity to act together with our allies in NATO when it is necessary. With our allies including Germany, France, England, Spain and Belgium, we are making these aircraft, an important part of the defense strategy adopted in Chicago, in a multinational project that takes into consideration the cost-effective balance.”

New security risks and threats emerging following the end of the Cold War necessitate reviewing force structures, added the President, underscoring that the Turkish Armed Forces are implementing a defense reform.

BEING READY FOR WAR TO KEEP PEACE

President Gül noted that Turkey is the second country after France that has included the A400M in its arsenal and expressed his pride in that fact that there are Turkish defense companies in the consortium that made the plane. As well as the strong conventional troops, the President noted, there is a need for mobile troops and forces as well that can be deployed at long distances today. President Gül further said that “today’s wars are not those of the past. We have to demonstrate that we are ready for anything in order to keep peace and live in peace although we do not want wars at all. We now have the capability to transport quickly our conventional troops, advanced weapons and other equipment to far distances. The A400M aircraft that we have added to our squadron today has the capacity to move small planes, tanks, helicopters, armored combat vehicles, artilleries and howitzers as well as other sophisticated war vehicles to far distances. Such a transportation capacity and speed at this scale can determine the fate of a military combat in today’s world. It is also of great importance in terms of our contributions to the operations beyond our borders.”

Turkey, through these planes, will further demonstrate its strong capacity to contribute to humanitarian aid and peacekeeping operations carried out by NATO, the EU and the UN, declared President Gül and he accentuated that “they also enhance Turkey’s deterrent strength, effectiveness and international prestige.”

The President further extended his thanks to the General Staff, The National Defense Ministry, Turkish Air Force, employees of the defense industry, partners and former commanders who paved the way for such important projects.

Attending the ceremony were Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel; National Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz; Air Force Commander Gen. Akın Öztürk and other officials.

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