ANKARA \u2014 The Turkish government has appointed Nurettin Canikli, a veteran politician from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) as the new defense minister, in what industry says is part of efforts to build more business-friendly relations, including foreign players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canikli replaces Fikri Isik who was appointed as deputy prime minister in a small cabinet reshuffle earlier in July. Before the reshuffle Canikli was deputy prime minister in charge of economic management, sharing this portfolio with Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCanikli is well-known in international finance circles. He is a prestigious political figure with a reputation to be \u2018business-friendly,\u2019\u201d said a London-based senior international banker. \u201cHis appointment should be good news for defense companies, local or foreign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A defense industry executive from a Turkish-foreign joint venture said: \u201cCanikli has a reputation to be a serious statesman who is pro-market and pro-business. He is a strong believer in international partnerships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canikli studied economy and finance at the Ankara University. He did his postgraduate studies in money, banking and finance at the Sheffield University in the United Kingdom. He worked as a tax auditor and acting chief tax official for Istanbul before joining politics. Canikli served as MP for three parliamentary terms on the AKP ticket, and had previously also served as customs and commerce minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coming from the ranks of a career in finance bureaucracy, one party official said, Canikli should not be expected to opt for a major reshuffle in the procurement bureaucracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe believes in seniority \u2026 He would not chose to work with \u2018my men\u2019 instead of \u2018competent men who know their job well.\u2019 He will likely not reshuffle top management at the procurement bureaucracy,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said: \u201cThe [procurement] bureaucracy should expect him to encourage them to advance existing international programs or launch new ones. He has a favourable opinion on international partnerships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A former bureaucrat who worked with Canikli said: \u201cI expect him to be keen on advancing professional management at state institutions. He would wish procurement agencies to work like efficient, privately owned companies. That means he will have a good relationship with the main procurement office.\u201d That office is the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (or SSM in its Turkish acronym), run by a veteran bureaucrat, Ismail Demir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An SSM official said: \u201cWhile he has a favourable opinion on international programs he will pursue an agenda to step up Turkey\u2019s various indigenous design, development and production programs. For him the trade-off between \u2018international\u2019 and \u2018indigenous\u2019 is not a zero-sum game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the AKP\u2019s rule since 2002, indigenous programs have become the backbone of Turkey\u2019s procurement policy. Turkey has launched multibillion-dollar indigenous programs including a new generation main battle tank, a new generation fighter jet, drones (including armed systems), corvettes and frigates, a landing platform dock, helicopters, satellites and scores of armored vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Canikli will likely not become the sole decision-maker shaping Turkey\u2019s several weapons systems programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHis office will act like a secretariat between the SSM and the [presidential] palace,\u201d said one senior AKP figure. \u201cHe will be instrumental in shaping top decisions but will not be the top decision-maker himself. The president has an ambition about building a sustainable, high-tech local industry \u2026 hence his direct involvement in major decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been the major driving force behind Turkey\u2019s modernization efforts with a strong touch of \u201cnational\u201d effort. He says he wants to build a totally \u2018independent\u2019 arms industry by 2023, the Turkish republic\u2019s centennial. He wants to eliminate any dependence on foreign-made systems, although he does not oppose Turkish participation in international programs or foreign know-how in Turkish programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Turkish government has appointed Nurettin Canikli, a veteran politician from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) as the new defense minister, in what industry says is part of efforts to build more business-friendly relations, including foreign players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":83457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":46,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,46,11,33,47,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3466],"class_list":["post-42226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-home","category-mideast-africa","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"PH6GQ6DKYZG5HAKRJBZVI4CESI","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/europe\/2017\/07\/29\/turkey-appoints-business-friendly-defense-minister\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n