Turkish drones, the new geopolitical weapon The role of Turkish combat drones in different armed conflicts has fostered Turkey's rise as an emerging power in the global arms industry. Turkish military drone One of the most modern drones in the Turkish arms industry was exhibited at the Teknofest fair last September in Istanbul. - TEKNOFEST ISTANBUL11/01/2021 10:33 PM UPDATED: 11/02/2021 07:09ALBA CAMBEIRO CERNADAS@CAMBEIRO_ALBA Last September the new Istanbul Airport hosted the fourth edition of Teknofest, the Turkish Aviation, Space and Technology Festival. School excursions, families and business people walked among different aircraft, helicopters and other military aviation systems that were exhibited there. While touring the exhibition, some queued to take a selfie with the most modern drones in the Turkish arms industry. Others looked up at the sky in amazement at the airshow of fighter jets performing acrobatic manoeuvres in the sky. The event, a show of force of the Turkish defence industry, exhibited for the first time the Bayraktar (DIHA) drone, one of the new jewels of the army. Turkey's complex geopolitical environment has a major impact on Ankara's defence and foreign policy. With the aim of becoming a great regional power and safeguarding its national integrity, the country adopts an increasingly militaristic and aggressive foreign policy. Turkey is committed to hard power and growing investment in defence to achieve strategic autonomy and protect itself from possible threats to its security. But Turkey's tough power not only responds to defence and security challenges but also to political purposes. With an economy in free fall, internal problems in the government and a rise in opposition, Erdogan has chosen to drag the country into international conflicts and focus public opinion on the projection capacity of national power. According to analyst Soner Cagaptay, military interventions in the wars in Libya, Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh were part of this strategy. Source Link