Turkey's first Aerospace Industrial Zone has opened in Ankara. A total of 120 companies, mainly from the defense industry, which has achieved record-breaking growth recently, are competing to invest in the zone whose infrastructural cost amounted to TL 50 million ($18 million).
Turkey has expedited investments in organized industrial zones in line with the Science, Industry and Technology Ministry's decision to put 90 new organized industrial zones into operation in 2015 with the objective of clearing the way for innovative sectors.
As a part of the new investments, Turkey's first Specialized Aerospace Industrial Zone has launched in Kazan, Ankara. The founding partners in the zone include the Undersecretariat for Defense Industry, Ankara Chamber of Commerce and the Association of Defense and Aerospace Industry Manufacturers. The zone, which is expected to produce hi-tech goods and be one of the few leading aerospace centers in the world, was established on an area of 7,230 million square meters. The infrastructural cost alone exceeded TL 50 million in the zone, which will include Turkey's first space laboratory. Only companies that produce high-added value goods will be allowed to take part in the zone, which has attracted great attention both inside and outside the country.
The main reason why the aerospace zone was launched in Ankara is the city's breakthroughs in the defense industry in recent years. Currently, the largest 50 defense firms in terms of the size of their exports, turnover and research and development (R&D) spending are operating in Ankara. Another reason is the record-breaking growth that Turkey has achieved in the defense industry. Ten years ago, the domestic share of the defense industry hovered around 25 percent; however, it reached around 60 percent in 2015. Currently, 300 firms are operating as subcontractors in the defense industry in Ankara's OSTİM industrial zone alone, and the number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the defense industry exceeds 2,000 in Turkey.
Turkey is set to launch new specialized organized industrial zones in other fields as well, with seven zones of this type, including the Eastern Marmara Machinery Manufacturers Specialized Organized Industrial Zone, the Kahramanmaraş Textiles Specialized Organized Industrial Zone, the Yalova Composite and Chemical Organized Industrial Zone and the Bursa Batı Organized Industrial Zone, already operating. A total of 15 industrial enterprises in the Çerkezköy Organized Industrial Zone placed on the list of Turkey's second largest 500 industrial companies that the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce prepared in line with 2014 data due to their rapid rise in R&D and innovation.
