The countdown has begun for the International Defense Industry Fair IDEF 2017, to be held on 09-12 May 2017, is one of the world’s five largest defense industry fairs. The publicity reception for the 13th IDEF 2017 was recently held with the participation of the Minister of National Defense, Mr. Fikri Işık and the broad participation of the defense industry circles.

The Minister Mr. Işık stated in his speech at the reception that Turkey asks for peace and stability in its region and strives for spreading peace and stability. “It is not possible to protect the peace without having a combat ready army. The most important way to protect the peace is an army which is always ready for war. In this respect, we as the Republic of Turkey, strive for increasing our deterrent force in order that the peace and stability be permanent while striving to spread peace and stability. For this reason, we strive toward improving the warfare readiness level of the Turkish Armed Forces and the human resources of the Turkish Armed Forces each passing day” said the Minister.

The Minister of National Defense Mr. Işık emphasized the importance of the national defense industry in continuation of his speech. “Today, Turkey is not a country that just purchases, uses and consumes weapons. Today Turkey has become a country that is producing weapons, developing technologies, adapting them into the defense industry and implementing them. We still have deficiencies. We do our best in order to fulfill these deficiencies. We have achieved very important milestones.” he said.

The Minister, Mr. Işık has requested foreign guests to show further interest in IDEF 2017 and expressed his belief that the fair in 2017 will be more productive and better than the fair in 2015.

The Turkish Armed Forces Foundation General Director, Mr. Orhan Akbaş stated in his speech that IDEF has been organized successfully by the Foundation for 23 years and has become one of the world’s five largest defense fairs in terms of the number of participants.

The General Manager Mr. Akbaş also shared information on IDEF’17 with the guests.

The special introduction days for the forces will be specified for the first time at IDEF 2017 Fair, to be held at the TÜYAP Fair Convention and Congress Center this year. The 2nd day of the fair will be allocated for Turkish Land Forces Command and General Commandership of Gendarmerie, the 3rd day for the Turkish Naval Forces Command and the 4th day for the Turkish Air Force and General Directorate of Security. It is expected there will be the highest level of participation in the introduction days; and also small-scale demonstrations will be organized for the guests.

It is expected that over 800 companies or their representatives from minimum 50 countries will attend the fair to which over 300 authorities from over 100 countries have been invited by the Ministry of National Defense and the Turkish General staff. It is planned to ensure that each delegate and participating company makes one on one interviews with the other delegates and participating companies by opening 18 interview offices at IDEF 2017.

The Introduction Reception, planned to be organized within the scope of the activities of IDEF 2017, to be held at the TÜYAP Fair Convention and Congress Center/Istanbul on 09-12 May 2017, was successfully completed with the wide participation of local and foreign guests, in particular the Minister of National Defense and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation, Mr. Fikri Işık.