Security expert Midhat Eshk: Ukraine has acquired these drones, which were manufactured in Turkey before the current war.. Ankara has strong relations with Moscow and Kiev at the same time, and years ago it obtained the Russian-made S-400 air defense system.
Although Turkey has officially denied providing any military aid to Ukraine during the ongoing Russian military operation on Ukrainian territory since last February 24, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the downing of 6 Turkish-made drones, which are known as “Bayraktar” after the family name of the owner of the company. The company that manufactures these planes is Ozdemir Bayraktar, who died in 2021.
Today, Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the shooting down of several "Bayraktar" planes inside Ukrainian territory, but Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kiran had confirmed the day before that "Kyiv acquired these planes on a special deal," in statements to local Turkish media. She is close to the ruling Justice and Development Party, led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In his statements, the Turkish official stressed that "Kyiv acquired Bayraktar planes through the Turkish company Baykar, and this cannot be considered Turkish military support that Kyiv receives from Ankara," which will stand at the same distance from Moscow and Kiev, in the current crisis, as he put it.
Commenting on this, a former Turkish general, currently holding the position of defense and security coordinator at the Turkish SDE Institute for Strategic Studies, said that "many countries have obtained Turkish-made drones for their great effectiveness, and Ukraine is one of the countries waiting to obtain them, especially with the warning indications." The current war will continue for a longer period of time.
Security expert Medhat Ishak added to Al Arabiya.net that "the company that manufactured this plane used to identify its shortcomings from time to time, until it actually overcame all the problems it was facing, and Bayraktar became the best among its counterparts in the world."
He revealed, "Ukraine obtained these drones, which are manufactured in Turkey before the current war, and I believe that nothing like this happened recently, especially since Ankara has strong relations with Moscow and Kiev at the same time, and years ago it obtained the Russian-made air defense system S. -400".
He also saw that "Ankara stands at the same distance from Moscow and Kiev and wants this war to end as quickly as possible," stressing that "Kyiv was not right about its desire to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)" and that "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a mistake. reliance on the United States of America.
Kyiv had obtained the "Bayraktar" unmanned aerial vehicles from the Turkish company "Baykar", according to its Ministry of Defense, which announced last Wednesday the arrival of new batches of these planes to it, which Ankara later denied.
This was followed by statements by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who was quoted by the official Anatolia news agency last Wednesday as saying that "any weapon that a country buys from Turkey or others, cannot be considered a Turkish, Russian or Ukrainian weapon, so that it becomes the property of the country that bought it only."
He added that "Turkey encountered various weapons from several countries, including Russia, during its war against terrorism in the territories of other countries, but it did not accuse Russia at all."
The Source
- alarabiya.net