Türkiye strengthens ties with the Nordic-Baltic region [INTERVIEW]

Dr Aleksander Olech (Defence24): Today with me is Dr Esra Öztürk from the Nordic Baltic Institute. Good morning.

Dr Esra Öztürk (the Nordic Baltic Institute): Good morning, Aleksander.

We’re very pleased to have you with us today because, as far as I know, Türkiye is quite engaged in the Nordic-Baltic region. Could you tell us more, of course, with regards to your huge industry that could be crucial for the the Nordic-Baltic region?

Many thanks. First of all, welcome to Ankara. Welcome to the NATO Summit. All the European allies and NATO allies are welcome here, and we are very happy to see Defence24 in Ankara at the Defence Industry Forum today, held within the scope of the NATO Summit in Ankara.

Let me start by introducing the Nordic Baltic Institute. The Nordic Baltic Institute is an NGO and think tank based in Istanbul focusing on boosting and strengthening the relationship between the Nordic-Baltic countries and Türkiye. This is because the relationship of these two regions is crucial for regional security, the Baltic region’s security, and broader European security.

What are we talking about? So, after Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO, the northern flank of NATO has been completed with the contribution of Türkiye, let’s say. That was a pivotal moment which helped the bilateral relations of countries like Finland and Türkiye and Sweden and Türkiye, making them much better, and it was promising. From that time, I think, nothing is going to be the same as in the past. A new level of cooperation, especially focusing on the defence industry, is really important as one can see by looking at all the discussions going around Türkiye.

The US is kind of leaving its diplomatic approach towards Europe, and Europeans are very much concerned about their own security and the region as a whole. So there have been several initiatives until now through which Europe has tried to create its own security architecture, with the last one being SAFE. But what we should consider is that Europe does not have its own defence-industry ecosystem. This is the most important thing that all the experts from all European countries would agree on. Now Europe has support from Türkiye — and when I say support, I do not mean aid, but rather the bilateral relations, international trade, investment, and the transfer of know-how.

This is what we are doing in Türkiye with the Baltic countries, trying to transfer know-how regarding defence-industry capabilities, trying to increase the amount of trade so that the Baltic countries can have greater military capabilities for deterrence, and of course, for defence. So, when you look at the defence-industrial cooperation between Türkiye, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland, regarding drone systems, armoured vehicles and infantry, you can see that all of this trade is growing day by day because the region wants to feel more secure with deterrence capabilities.

This is one of the fields that we are also focusing on at the Nordic-Baltic Institute. The research is on defence. I am not a defence expert myself, but we have our colleagues who are going to analyse the future potential for cooperation between our region and Türkiye. This is really important, I can say, because the Baltic countries are sitting near the Russian border. And every single day I have spent in the region, visited many different places and talked to several different people, I could hear that they are concerned every single morning when they wake up and asking themselves: what’s going to happen next?

So, they want to feel more secure. For that, they need capabilities, and this is where the importance of cooperation with Türkiye becomes critical.

Thank you very much. I do believe it’s the very beginning of cooperation between Poland, the Nordic-Baltic region, and of course, Türkiye. So, we are very glad to have you, and I would like to invite you for future cooperation with Defence24. Çok teşekkürler.

Many thanks, Aleksander.