Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered a speech at the Aksaz Shipyard Command Opening and Maritime Platforms Delivery Ceremony.
Erdoğan laid out the following keynotes in his speech:
"We are here on the occasion of the delivery of ships that will enhance the power and effectiveness of our Naval Forces and the inauguration of our Aksaz Shipyard Command. On this special day, we are commissioning our critically important Piri Reis submarine for our army, raising the flag on the Hızır Reis submarine, and starting its sea trials. We are also beginning the outfitting activities for the Murat Reis submarine. Additionally, we are putting into service the fuel tankers numbered 2, 3, and 4, as well as a 3,000-ton submarine dock. I wholeheartedly thank each and every one who contributed to the construction of our ships and submarines, and I wish them to be beneficial for our country and the Turkish Armed Forces. Right at the beginning of my words, I commemorate our martyrs who gave their lives for the survival of our homeland and the independence and future of our nation with mercy. I extend my gratitude to our heroic veterans on behalf of our country and nation, and I pray that God is pleased with them all.
We continue our struggle to elevate the Republic of Türkiye, the legacy of our heroic ancestors, to the places it deserves. We are a country surrounded by seas on three sides and are at the center of a geography that has been the scene of global power struggles for centuries. We are a nation that owes its thousand-year existence on these lands to the blessed blood and sacrifices of its martyrs. We are aware that to live in peace in our lands, we must have a strong and effective navy, both in our blue homeland and in distant geographies. With this understanding, we have been striving to strengthen the Turkish Armed Forces in all areas with the motto of 'Strong Türkiye, Strong Army' since 2002. As today, the steps taken by Türkiye are followed with envy by our friends, with gratitude and support by our brothers, and with fear by our adversaries. The backbone of our goal to strengthen our army consists of our efforts to increase the capacity and deterrence of our navy. We have mobilized all our resources for the procurement of all kinds of platforms and systems needed by our Naval Forces. With each completed project, each ship whose construction has begun, and each modernized or delivered ship, we are bringing our navy closer to the level we aim for.
Our submarines are among the strategic elements of our Naval Forces. The TCG Piri Reis, which is commissioned today, is the first of our six submarines with an air-independent propulsion system. Over 380 factory, port, and sea acceptance tests have been successfully conducted on the Piri Reis submarine. Our Reis-class submarines are equipped with features far superior to their counterparts around the world. The Piri Reis submarine will be able to conduct operations for a long time without the need to surface. As mentioned earlier by our Naval Forces Commander and our Defense Minister, we plan to commission the Hızır Reis submarine, for which we raised the flag and began sea trials, in 2025 and the Murat Reis submarine, for which we started outfitting activities, in 2026. The construction of our fourth submarine, Aydın Reis, our fifth submarine, Seydi Ali Reis, and our sixth submarine, Selman Reis, is progressing rapidly. We will strengthen our navy by commissioning all submarines under the project by 2029.
Here, I want to particularly emphasize this point. Our new-type submarine project is beyond just a contract. This project is an exemplary project that includes multi-dimensional goals such as training technical personnel, localizing products, and industrialization, where our Armed Forces, public sector, and private sector work in harmony. As you know, we are currently among the few countries that can design, build, and maintain their own warships. Of course, we are not satisfied with just this. We hope to achieve our goal of building our own submarine, a dream of approximately 138 years, with our MİLDEN project. In this way, we will join the ranks of the leading countries in the world that can design and build their own submarines. Our work on the MİLDEN project is progressing within its scope. Another point that should be emphasized regarding the Piri Reis submarine is this: During the construction of our submarine, many of our defense industry companies served as subcontractors, thereby accumulating significant experience for MİLDEN. The Piri Reis will also be able to use our indigenous guided missiles, ATMACA and GEZGİN, as well as our pride, the AKYA torpedo, which we recently tested in live fire. We aim to equip our indigenous submarine MİLDEN with indigenous systems and devices and use it with completely indigenous weapons.
We have implemented very important projects with the decisions we made at the Defense Industry Executive Committee to equip our Naval Forces with the capabilities they need. The construction of important platforms such as the National Assault Boat, New Type Mine Hunting Ship, İstif-class Frigate, Offshore Patrol Ship, and New Type Landing Craft continues. Additionally, the design work for the TF 2000 Air Defense Warfare Destroyer, the National Submarine, and the National Aircraft Carrier, which will open new horizons for our Naval Forces, continues. With the TF 2000 Air Defense Warfare Destroyer, whose construction will soon begin at Istanbul Shipyard Command, we will provide our country's air defense from the sea in a phased manner. We will ensure the protection of our critical capabilities such as TCG Anadolu and the National Aircraft Carrier against air threats.
On our national aircraft carrier, our indigenous and national air vehicles such as Hürjet, Kızılelma, TB3, and Anka-3 will protect our rights and interests in overseas areas of influence. We are also equipping our national ships with the National Vertical Launch System (MİDLAS), developed with indigenous and national means. In this way, we will gain the capability to launch our guided missiles, such as Atmaca, Sapan, and Gezgin, from our launchers. We are equipping all the floating, diving, flying, and land-based platforms of our Naval Forces with the ADVENT Combat Management System. With the activation of all these projects, our Naval Forces will acquire much superior capabilities, and our rights in the Blue Homeland will be defended more effectively.
I want to state very clearly that our efforts to strengthen our shipyard infrastructure will continue. In the future, we will have a shipyard in Mersin as well. In addition to our Istanbul and Gölcük shipyards, we will be able to carry out all kinds of maintenance and repairs for the guardians of the Blue Homeland on our Aegean and Mediterranean coasts. With the principle of 'He who controls the seas, controls the world,' we will continue to push our capabilities in this area forward. As a matter of fact, today we are commissioning three 200-ton fuel tankers, designed and built in our national shipyards to provide logistical support to the operational elements of our Naval Forces. From now on, we will be able to meet the logistical needs of floating elements of our Naval Forces and Coast Guard Commands, as well as allied elements, more easily. I congratulate all our commanders, companies, and all my brothers from engineers to workers who have brought us this joy and pride.
Here, I particularly wish to express this point. The defense industry is an area that cannot be neglected, that does not tolerate pauses, and requires continuous and high-paced work. When we look back, we can all see how we have covered a significant distance towards our big goals in a very short time. In the last 22 years, we have carried out a revolution in the defense industry, particularly with our foundations, private companies, SMEs, research institutions, technology centers, military private sector shipyards. In 2002, we had 62 defense industry projects, which has now increased to 1,031, and our 56 defense industry companies have grown to 3,500. The total size of defense industry projects has exceeded 96 billion dollars. While we used to procure our military ships from abroad or produce them domestically using foreign designs, today we design, produce, and export many products in different categories.
Look, just since the beginning of 2023, we have accepted the first of our MİLGEM İstif-class ships, Istanbul, our multi-purpose amphibious assault ship, Anadolu, our Replenishment and Combat Support Ship, Derya, the logistics support ships Yüzbaşı Güngör Durmuş and Intelligence Arif Ekmekçi, and our first unmanned and autonomous sea vehicle, Marlin. We are conducting many activities simultaneously and with great determination, such as the development of different types of radars required by our ships, the production and integration of our close-in air defense system Gökdeniz into our ships, and the production and integration of our helicopter capture and transfer system into our ships using indigenous and national means. In addition to many projects we have completed in previous years, we still have 200 naval platform projects and 40 surface and subsurface autonomous and unmanned sea vehicle projects ongoing."
