How Erdogan is turning Turkey into a regional superpower
The NATO leaders' summit in Ankara will give Recep Tayyip Erdogan a platform to showcase his security and diplomatic achievements, as well as his ambition to position Turkey as a regional and international power. From the defense industry to influence from Africa to the Caucasus: These are the Turkish president's goals.
The NATO summit taking place this week in Ankara marks a peak moment for Turkey in general and for its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in particular. While many have criticized the coercive and aggressive foreign policy of the man who sought to restore the glory days of the Ottoman Empire, arguing that it was isolating Turkey and causing it economic harm, it now appears that the country is only consolidating its status as a regional power.
Anyone who has paid even slight attention to developments in the country over the past year can easily say that Turkey is in the midst of an unprecedented process of military buildup and armament, led by the Turkish military industry. In this sense, the NATO gathering in the Turkish capital provides an unprecedented opportunity for Turkish arms companies to increase sales.
"It is inconceivable to establish European security without Turkey," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, as he continuously pushed for Turkey's "inclusion" in all European defense and security structures, especially the European Union's €150 billion ($171 billion) SAFE program.
Turkey boasts the second-largest army in NATO after the United States, with 355,000 soldiers and another 378,000 reservists, while its defense industry has flourished markedly over the past decade. But Ankara wants to move beyond the role of supplier to that of a strategic partner capable of dictating policy.
Turkey's defense industry, ranked 11th in the world and accounting for 1.8% of the global arms market, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), saw exports rise by 48% in 2025, compared with 29% a year earlier, officials said.
"We are now achieving in one week what we used to achieve in one year," Erdogan said last month about Turkey's exports of drones, tanks, armored vehicles and warships, one of which was supplied to Romania and became the "first export of a military ship to a European Union and NATO member state." Turkey is also carving out a share of the lucrative market created by the war in Ukraine, supplying Kyiv with Bayraktar drones and building two advanced warships for the Ukrainian navy.
But Turkey does not aspire only to be an arms supplier. It also seeks to become a first-rate military power in the region and perhaps even in the world. Turkey's military spending reached $30 billion in 2025, exceeding the combined defense spending of its close neighbors and marking a significant shift in the regional balance of power, according to recently published data and regional assessments.
The total exceeds the estimated combined military budgets of Greece, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Armenia, Georgia and other neighboring countries, which together amounted to about $24 billion to $25 billion. The gap points to a growing disparity in defense capabilities across the region, shaped by overlapping security challenges.
