State Minister Kürsad Tüzmen said that he supports these kind of investments which will add high value to the sector in his speech at the ceremony. Minister Tüzmen also emphasized that they will continue to support the investments in free zones like this one during the ongoing European Union integration process and added that this investment of Fooker-Elmo will have a considerable contribution to the Turkish economy.
Adriaan Leyte, Vice President of Sales and Marketing of Stork Fokker Elmo B.V said: “We had been talking about this investment in Ankara a year ago, and now after one year we are here.” Leyte stated that the wires to be manufactured in the facility will be exported and in this way they will contribue to Turkish export, and added that authorities from Boing will be here next week to observe the investment. Leyte said that they will place 350 employees in the facility which they have realized by an investment of 12 million dollars. Leyte also conveyed that their cutomers are the biggest pioneer companies in the world, such as EADS and Boing, and they have other investments in China and other countries and added that they are genuily happy to make this investment in Turkey.

Jan Lagasse, Managing Director of Fokker Elmo, said: "A tremendous performance has been achieved by a large multidisciplinary Fokker Elmo team from Turkey and from the Netherlands, to industrialise this new facility and accomplish AS9100 certification with a 100% score. Obviously our team could not have achieved this without the ongoing support of ESBAS, SSM and our customers Boeing, EADS and Lockheed Martin. We now look forward to apply our proven business model to our Turkish facility. We are confident that with the expanded global footprint and the use of our unique Wiring Design and Manufacturing System we will be able to even serve our aerospace and defence customers even better."
The facility, which was announced in Ankara one year ago is located in the Aegean Free Zone in Izmir and will manufacture aircraft and aircraft engine wiring systems for Fokker Elmo customers such as Boeing, EADS/Airbus, Lockheed Martin and Agusta-Westland. The new facility is now AS9100 certified and is starting customer deliveries. The operation is expected to grow to 300- 500 employees within five years.
The Aegean Free Zone in Izmir was chosen because of the good conditions that exist for international companies in terms of business development, human resources, and environment. Also the support from the Under Secretariat for Defence (SSM) has been a stimulating factor for the establishment of this long term operation in Turkey. Fokker Elmo customers Boeing, EADS/Airbus and Lockheed Martin were closely involved and supportive from the start of this project. Fokker Elmo is a Stork Aerospace operating company and internationally recognized as a prime specialist in electrical interconnection systems for aircraft and aircraft engines. The company holds a number two market position.

The Izmir Facility is the fourth operation of Fokker Elmo, the company already owns factories in The Netherlands, China and the USA.