Russia, Turkey DefMins to discuss European security, MTC

Russian Minister of Defence Anatoly Serdyukov, during his official visit to Turkey, is to hold talks with Turkish Minister of National Defence Mehmet Vecdi Gonul in Ankara on Tuesday.

An official in the Russian Defence Ministry press service and information department has told Itar-Tass, "During the forthcoming talks, the sides are planning to discuss a wide range of matters concerning military and military-technical cooperation (MTC) between Russia and Turkey, the maintenance of security and stability in the Black Sea area, the expansion of Russo-Turkish interaction in the anti-terrorist sphere, as well as a number of other problems of ensuring European security".

The Russian Defence Minister also intends to call at the Aselsan Company and the Combined Military Academy of Turkey's Armed Forces at Istanbul.

Russo-Turkish MTC has been developing since 1992 when agreement was reached about the deliveries of Russian-made armoured personnel carriers (APC) BTR-80 and versatile helicopters Mi-8 and Mi-17 to the Turkish side.

At that time, gendarme and special-purpose units were provided with Kalashnikov submachine-guns and machine-guns, Dragunov sniper rifles, and hand-operated anti-tank grenade launchers. Turkish units also receive a 107-mm light rocket-assisted salvo firing system, of which1 a 122-mm shell from the known BM-21 Grad system is the main munition.

In April 1994, Moscow and Ankara signed an intergovernmental agreement on MTC and in the field of the defence industry, the agreement that became the first accord signed by Russia with a NATO member-country.

A Russo-Turkish mixed commission on MTC was set up in 2001. Intergovernmental agreements on mutual protection of intellectual property in MTC sphere and on mutual protection of classified information in the field of MTC were signed in December 2004 during the first-ever official visit to Turkey in the five-century long history of Russo-Turkish interstate relations by Russia's second President Vladimir Putin.

At present, Russian deliveries of arms and military hardware to Turkey run at about $200 million (these are mainly ammunition, components and spare parts).

Russia suggests five MTC projects to Turkey. These concern a licensed production and assembly of Russian T-80 and T-90 tanks, provided with a 120-mm gun adapted to NATO standards, BTR-80 and BTR-90 APC's and Tigr (tiger) armoured cars at Turkish defence-industry enterprises.

Russia is prepared to produce anti-tank short- and medium-range missile systems for the needs of Turkey's national defence. Joint projects are being worked out for the manufacture of search-and-rescue ships. It is possible to integrate the Russian-made anti-aircraft missile system Strelets with the analogous system being made by the Turkish defence company Aselsan -- the leading national manufacturer of radio electronics for the designing of fire control systems.

Joint space projects of military purpose are ready for implementation. Russia also offers the helicopter gunship Ka-50-2 Erdogan of Russo-Israeli make to Turkey. The helicopter is up to Turkish army requirements and is cheaper than Western analogues.

Besides, according to information from Russia's Main Naval Headquarters, a naval striking force of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Federation is planning to hold bilateral naval exercises in the Mediterranean in January 2009 in conjunction with the ships of the Turkish Navy.