Turkish President Erdogan stresses importance of ‘strong, effective’ navy to protect peace

By Necva Tastan Sevinc

ISTANBUL (AA) - Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday stressed the need to maintain a "strong and effective navy" to safeguard Türkiye’s peace and security, both within its territorial waters and in far-flung regions.

“We are aware that to live peacefully in our lands, we must have a strong and effective navy both in our Blue Homeland and in distant regions,” said Erdogan, using a phrase to denote Turkish territorial waters.

Stating that Ankara has done revolutionary work on the defense industry for the last 22 years, during the Justice and Development (AK) Party’s decades in power, he said Türkiye plans to commission two submarines over the next two years, the Hizirreis in 2025 and Muratreis in 2026.

"We will strengthen our navy by commissioning all submarines within the project by 2029," he stressed, speaking in Türkiye’s Aegean coastal city Mugla.

He expressed hope to achieve the 138-year-old dream of building Türkiye's own submarine with the Milden (National Submarine) Project.

In addition to advancing military technology, Erdogan noted the government’s efforts to restore and preserve historical assets.

“We have completely restored the MV Savarona, which had been neglected for years, and was even used as a casino at one point, remaining faithful to its original form,” he said, referring to a ship first launched in 1931,

“We rescued the Savarona from neglect and returned it to our nation as a piece of history that has witnessed 86 years of our republic.”

Erdogan also revealed plans for the deployment of indigenous aircraft on Türkiye’s national aircraft carriers.

“Our national and indigenous aircraft such as Hurjet, Kizilelma, TB3, and ANKA3 will protect our rights and interests in overseas impact areas on our national aircraft carrier,” he said.

He announced the construction of the TF-2000 Air Defense Destroyer at Istanbul Shipyard, designed to enhance the country’s air defense capabilities from the sea.

“With the TF-2000 Air Defense Destroyer to be constructed at Istanbul Shipyard, we will provide tiered air defense for our country from the sea,” he explained.

“We will ensure the protection of our critical assets such as TCG Anadolu and the national aircraft carrier against air threats," he added.