Defence Turkey: Mr. Demirel, first of all we want to thank you for giving us your time for this interview. Could you please assess 2013 in terms of the projects implemented under the co-ordination of the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries? 

We can say in fact that 2013 was a year which ended a period and in which we undertook the first step towards a new period. I mention this from two points. The first is that many projects that had been on-going for a long time and some projects that went on due to problems that took place were completed in 2013 or were finally resolved. In this respect I can say that 2013 was a year when we threw away the shackles and became ready to see a new agenda for 2014.  The second point is that 2013 was the year when the question as to whether “Turkey can design its own platforms was a “YES” as an answer.” The answer to this “yes” was due to the successful “Hürkuş,” “Altay” and MILGEM projects and the results that were beyond expectations and not due to us. Parallel to this, the technology acquisition projects that are increasingly gaining momentum during the last decade have begun to attain maturity. Thus, the SSM that tried to prove that Turkey can design and produce its own weapon systems until 2013 has entered a new period in 2014 where the detailed design and production of subsystems of weapon systems down to the details of materials that is completely new has perhaps entered a more assertive new period.