Defence Turkey: Mr. Akkaya, first of all we want to thank you for giving us your time for this interview. Dearsan is one of the key players in the Turkish shipbuilding industry. Would you please provide us with information on the structure and area of activities of your shipyard?

Having been active for more than 30 years in Tuzla, Istanbul our shipyard has specialised in the building of sophisticated commercial ships and by succeeding in exporting these ships to European Union members such as Norway, Holland, Belgium and France it has proven its experience. In 2007, in order to assess this know-how in our country’s defence industry projects, a strategic decision was adopted and all investments in infrastructure and human resources were directed towards the building of military ships. Our shipyard’s modernised facilities have merged in a dynamic manner the experience and institutional know-how of retired naval forces personnel with the flexibility of civilian staff. Due to this harmony, the first military warship project built in a private shipyard in our country, the Tuzla Class Patrol Boats were delivered on time and with high user satisfaction. This experience gained and its successful conclusion was met with close attention globally, in particular with the naval forces and coast guard commands of friendly nations. With the attention we have received we have concentrated on our export targets and our work on the type of ships we can present and diversifying the solutions we can provide has accelerated our activities. During the same time we realised the delivery of the first vessels in the Tuzla Class Patrol Boats series, the signing of the first military ship export contract has rightly made us proud but has also increased our responsibilities. In addition to the 16 Tuzla Class Patrol Boats, we have signed contracts for an additional 39 different class boats and ships and the total orders during the last 7 years have reached 55. During a very short time a total of 45 boats and ships were delivered. In particular, our activities toward the export of existing platforms and those we are developing are continuing in an intense manner and our activities involving the planned sea group tenders of our Undersecretariat for Defence Industries are on-going.