Due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, which was officially declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, almost all international fairs in 2020, and those in the first half of 2021 were canceled or postponed to a later date. Virtual fairs and bilateral meetings held virtually, though not taking the place of physical fairs, prevented a complete cessation of business development and promotion activities during this period. However, we should say that business developers and companies have started to discuss the efficiency of virtual events - location and time independent – which were highly appreciated initially and accepted as a way out, due to the prolongation of the process together with the impact of falling revenues.

During this period where the risk of contamination continues, some country borders are closed, international transportation-logistics as well as travel are problematic, and many international companies predictably thought twice about their participation in a fair at the beginning of the year. Consequently, many giant international companies have suspended all their activities in the first half of 2021 to protect their staff and reduce risk during the continued pandemic. At the beginning of year, Turkey announced that the 15th International Defense and Industry Fair - IDEF'21, which was planned to take place at the TÜYAP Fair and Congress Center in Istanbul Büyükçekmece on May 25-28, 2021, would be held physically as usual. But at that time, at the beginning of May, the number of daily cases were still quite high in the country and a great number of Turkish companies hoped to delay the event push the exhibition forward. Eventually, the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation announced that the IDEF 2021 15th International Defense Industry Fair was postponed to 17-20 August due to precautions in line with the recommendation of the Ministry of Health Scientific Advisory Board on 5th May.