11th of the biennially organized International Defence Industry Fair IDEF 2013 has been held at Tüyap Fair Convention and Congress Center in Beylikdüzü, İstanbul. A total number of 785 companies and institutions composed of 242 local and 543 foreign firms participated in this year’s IDEF that is considered among the top 5 Defence fairs of the World and the greatest fair in Eurasia region. IDEF’13 hosted 506 foreign delegation members from 81 countries and with the attendance of 22 Ministers, 12 Deputy Ministers, and 1 Chief of General Staff, 5 Deputy Chiefs of General Staff, 6 Force Commanders and 8 Undersecretaries. In his speech at the opening ceremony on May 7, Minister of National Defence stated that they have been conducting significant modernization activities within the scope of Turkish Armed Forces’ (TAF) demands and added, “As of year 2012, armed forces’ domestic purchase for covering the demands have reached to a level of 54 %”. 

President of the Grand National Assembly Cemil Çiçek, Minister of National Defence İsmet Yılmaz, General Manager of the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation Lt. Gen. Hayrettin Uzun and a vast number of foreign ministers and representatives of foreign companies attended the opening ceremony of the Fair on May 7. In his speech at the opening ceremony Minister of National Defence İsmet Yılmaz gave information on the ongoing projects. Stating that the design, development and test studies of the projects such as “Altay” main battle tank, “Atak” attack helicopter, “Anka” unmanned aerial vehicle and Göktürk satellite Yılmaz added that all indigenously developed equipment achieved great success in exports to allied countries.