Surrounded by war, Turkey more than triples defence spending

Announcing the plan on Sunday, Vice-President Cevdet Yilmaz said the aim was to ensure Turkey “develops its own technologies in the defence industry, can meet its own needs and produces high added value”.

Outlining the rationale behind the increase, Yilmaz added: “Where there is no security, there can be neither development nor democracy. We are shaping our budget accordingly.”

Bill Park, a senior lecturer in defence studies at King’s College London, said Ankara had long been building towards greater defence self-sufficiency.