Turkish defense minister takes aim at arms dealer bribery

The defense minister has alleged that arms companies and dealers have given lucrative kickbacks or commissions to ministry and military officials in an attempt to secure high-priced defense contracts.

Minister Vecdi Gönül spoke to Murat Yetkin from the daily Radikal about arms dealers sharing commissions with bureaucrats. It was the first time a Turkish defense minister has commented on such allegations.

Gönül said they had suspicions over direct arms purchases, which led to the banning of arms company representatives from meetings at both the ministry and the General Staff. Gönül said Turkey’s defense and security establishment preferred to approach domestic industrialists for original work more than seeking to purchase finished products direct from foreigners, which is what has lead to the development of the Turkish defense industry.

“Actually, our government did not treat all sectors equally,” said the minister. “We took sides when it came to defense and favored the industrialist who manufactures over the dealer who sells. Before [our administration], direct purchases were favored. You call one a company representative, but it says 'dealer' in his trade registry entry. The dealer gets a product manufactured abroad and brings it to you saying, 'It is great'.”

Gönül said that while the quality of the products may actually be very good, the ministry often ends up paying for qualities of the product that they do not actually need or use. Moreover, products purchased in this way do not make a positive impact on the domestic defense industry and the dealer’s profit is paid for by the purchaser, in this case the Defense Ministry and General Staff, not the manufacturer.

This profit rate is up to 5 or 10 percent, which means a lot in billion-dollar defense bids, according to the minister. “Besides, we could not be certain that this profit was for the dealer only,” said Gönül. “It is our belief that the arbiters use [the cash] to influence and persuade commission members who make purchasing decisions.”

The dealers also employed retired generals as lobbyists to reach purchase-authorizing civil servants, said Gönül. Retired generals were on the payroll of many arms dealing companies because of their good relations with active duty soldiers. The minister said the General Staff closed its doors to arms dealers during the reign of Gen. Hilmi Özkök and that practice, he believes, is continuing. “The arbiters cannot enter the ministry since I became minister. I have not met with any dealer since I took the post.”

Yetkin wrote that the minister confirmed to him allegations of $1 billion defense purchases that have been whispered about in Ankara for years. Gönül said he would not name names from past examples, but he might write about them in his memoirs after retirement.