Turkey showcases new defense items at ongoing fair

Turkey on Tuesday put on display items like a new armored vehicle and a long-range, ground to ground missile at the 13th International Defense Industry Fair being held in Istanbul.

The new armored fighting vehicle produced by FNSS, a Turkish defense industry company, was introduced to the fair for the first time. The vehicle named Kaplan has protection systems against mines, rocket propelled grenades and kinetic energy threats on top of an amphibious capability.

The domestic KAAN missile and weapon system and a long-range ground to ground missile named Bora made their debut as well, press reports said. Bora was developed by adopting Chinese technology and is Turkey's first missile that can go beyond 300 kilometers, experts were quoted as saying.

"In a world where justice has been rapidly degrading, the protection of life and property has become more important than ever," Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said at the inauguration of the fair.

Saying Turkey sets its security policies "to defend people and the life," the premier said his country "will continue to gain more strength in the field of defense."

Ankara has managed to reduce its dependency on foreign sources to below 40 percent as far as its defense industry is concerned, he said, adding, "Our dependency was around 80 percent 15 years ago."

Some 800 companies from more than 50 countries are expected to display their newest vehicles, equipment, technologies and systems used in defense, security, maritime, aviation and space industries at the Turkish fair, considered among the top five in the world.

The fair "has a distinctive meaning for the world countries especially at a time when the world geography has been reshaped," Abdullah Agar, a security analyst, told Xinhua.

"It has also a significant importance for the region as the world's main conflict zones are located in this geography," he said.

In his view, the display of new products and latest technologies for the fist time has important symbolic and psychological meanings other than their entry into the inventories.

"IDEF should be considered as a podium that reveals the deterrent of the participant countries," he said, using the acronym for the fair.

At the end of March, Turkey ended its so-called Euphrates Shield Operation launched in August 2016 in northern Syria, yet Turkish leaders have raised the possibility of new cross-border operations.

"So in that sense, this is show time for Turkey to demonstrate its force and its deterrent to its enemies," remarked Agar.

Some 500 high-level delegates from 76 countries and international institutions are expected to be present as well at the fair, a four-day event, press reports said. Endit