An Overview of Legislation of Turkish Defence Industry

Turkey spends quite an amount portion of its budget on defence procurements. She sustains one of the largest armies in the world and has a reputable position in NATO. There has been a remarkable progress in building up her own defence industry. The legal aspect of this effort became more substantial with the establishment of the Undersecretariat for

Defence Industries and with the newly adopted laws in this field. Despite the fact that the defence industry in Turkey has been a recently flourishing field in Turkey, there are numerous laws that regulate the various aspects of this industry.

Most of the laws in Turkish defence industry are dated as quite recent years. The principle of building a national defence industry was first laid down by the Law on Execution of Defence Industry Activity, dated 28.02.1995 and no.4083. This law is aimed to lay down the principles for the procurement of defence needs in the peacetime and to specify the missions of each governmental body for the realization of a national defence industry. Given the fact that most of the needs in this field were procured through foreign channels until recent years, this Law has a significant role in the efforts to build a national defence industry.

One important principle in this context is the role of the public enterprises. This Law emphasizes that the needs of the Turkish Armed Forces should be first met by the public enterprises. Private sector has a secondary role in this sense. The foreign sector is important especially for technology transfer.

Viewed as a whole, the general restrictive character of Turkish Legislation has considerable impact on defence industry. The law on the Control Over the Enterprises in Defence Industry, dated 29.06.2004 and no. 5201 (superseding the Law dated 03.01.1940 and no. 3763.) sets forth certain procedures for the control of the establishment and operation of the companies in defence industry. In this context, the establishment and operation of the enterprises in defence industry is subject to the permission of the Ministry of National Defence (art.3). In other words, any company to invest in defence industry should take permission from the Ministry.

The company should propose to the Ministry the location of the investment and get the approval of the Ministry upon the consent of the Ministry of Domestic affairs and Environment (art.3/II).

All enterprises working in defence industry are subject to the control of the Ministry (article 6).

The production procedure for the enterprises that will work in defence industry, exportation of the products, oversea sales and penalty provisions to any transgress are other provisions laid down in this Law. As is widely recognized, defence field is vital for the security of the country therefore almost all activities in this field are subject to some sort of classification.

There are basically four levels of classification, namely top secret, secret, confidential and restricted. The prevailing regulation in this field is the Law on the Security of the Defence Industry, dated 29.06.2004 and no.5202. In this context, every person working in a project or penetrating the documents or information concerning defence industry should get a certificate of personal clearance and every organization or location that will deal with or host a project in defence field should get a certificate of facility clearance (article 6).

Through performing their duty, the Ministry of National Defence acts in collaboration with other relevant public bodies. The Undersecretariat for Defence Industries was established under the provisions of the Law on the establishment of the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries, dated 7.11.1985 and no.3238. This regulation aims to promote modern defence industry and to modernize the Turkish Armed Forces.

The Prime Minister heads the Commission which assembles to determine the plans, needs, etc. Naturally for all of them an income is essential, therefore a fund is established under Turkish Central Bank. The sources of this fund are various like incomes from foundations, lottery, allowance, etc.

Other titles laid down in this regulation are, establishment of the Undersecretariat of Defence Industry, Institutions of the Undersecretariat, Committee and task assignment.

Turkish legislation on defence industry not only includes laws but also regulations and directives which formulate the rules much in detail. The Directive on the Security of Defence Industry, issued by the Ministry of Defence lays down the principles of the security of defence industry and the procedures to get permission for the establishment of the companies that will produce material subject to control. Besides, this Directive also explains how to get the security clearance for the people and the facility.

Based on the Law no. 5201, Ministry of National Defence issues an announcement that includes a list of the material, weapons, spare parts, explosives in certain periods. The last one, issued on 19 January 2005 in Official Gazette, includes a detailed list of the material subject to control.

In the next issue a detailed explanation of the regulations mentioned above will be provided. Moreover other legislations relevant to defence industry will also be detailed.

The readers are welcomed to forward questions concerning the legal context of defence industry in Turkey.