Ares Delivered Patrol Boats to the Coast Guard

Interior Minister Mr. Muammer Güler, Governor of Antalya Sebahattin Öztürk,  Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey Mr. Bela Szombati, Coast Guard Commander Rear Admiral Adnan Özbal, Dearsan Chairman of the Board Mr. Taner Akkaya, Ares Chairman of the Board Mr. Kerim Kalafatoğlu, Head of the Central Finance and Contracts Unit Mr. Muhsin Altun and Commanders, members of political parties and a crowded number of invitees attended the delivery ceremony that took place in Ares Shipyard at Antalya Free Trade Zone. 

Minister of Interior Muammer Güler stated in his speech at the ceremony that measures regarding internal security should be taken starting from the borders and added, “In these studies, we conduct our aim is to change the “easily passable country” image of Turkey and through taking deterrent precautions taking Turkey out of the illegal immigration route”. 

Interior Minister Muammer Güler continued that being a basic requirement for Turkey, the better and effective protection of borders bore importance for the efforts of alignment with the EU policies as well. Additionally, Minister Güler stressed that there is a need for progress in border security policies especially for the visa exemption issue for Turkish Citizens in EU and the readmission agreement that would be signed soon within this context. 

Governor of Antalya Sebahattin Öztürk pointed out that Antalya is a famous city for its touristic features as well as its yachting industry and underlined that they wished at least few of these delivered patrol boats to be assigned in Antalya as the city has a long coast. 

Coast Guard Commander Rear Admiral expressed the developments in Syria and countries in which illegal immigration originate and added that since the beginning of 2013, 7 thousand 744 illegal immigrants have been rescued and brought to relative security units.  

Kalafatoğlu:”We are a Young Company with a Vision of a World Brand”

In his speech at the delivery ceremony, Mr. Kerim Kalafatoğlu the Chairman of the Board of Ares Shipyard that manufactured the aforementioned patrol boats expressed that though Ares is a young company, it has great dreams. Kalafatoğlu stated that Ares Shipyard started manufacturing with private yachts and boats in 2005 and then in 2007 when the company aligned with the criteria of Ministry of National Defence and of NATO, it launched high performance military and paramilitary production with the demands and suggestions of Defence Industry and support of the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries. Kalafatoğlu mentioned that the company will be manufacturing coast guard boats, patrol boats and 8 luxury yachts to Bahrain, Nigeria and Qatar. Kerim Kalafatoğlu added that they assumed the motto “What no other company does, we should do first” as their mission and continued “We may be a really young company but we have big dreams. We aim to become a world brand from the Caspian Sea to Tanzania, from the Persian Gulf to French Coasts in shipbuilding through successful production, marketing and promotion”. 

Thousands of People Benefit from Shipbuilding

Chairman of the Board of one of Turkey’s prominent shipbuilding companies Dearsan Retired Admiral Mr. Taner Akkaya stressed that thousands of people benefited from Dearsan’s export volume of last 4 years exceeding a billion US Dollars. Taner Akkaya expressed that they gained strength with government’s vision and conducted marketing and promotion activities in 3 continents and added that this cooperation on 10 Patrol Boats realized with EU funds would contribute Turkey’s accession period to EU.

Bela Szombati, the Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey that funded 75% of the manufacturing of delivered 10 Patrol Boats stated that EU’s support to Turkey’s struggle against illegal immigration, illegal human and drug trafficking would continue for especially the 8 thousand kilometers long coast considered. Szombati underlined that this support and cooperation would contribute to the pre-accession period as well. Following the speeches, Ares Chairman of the Board Mr. Kerim Kalafatoğlu and Dearsan  Chairman of the Board Taner Akkaya presented a memoir to those who contributed to the project. A mock-up of the Patrol Boat that was delivered was given to Interior Minister Mr. Muammer Güler. At the end of the ceremony, Minister of National Defence Muammer Güler and the accompanying delegation made a tour on the Patrol Boat.