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Türkiye's Secretariat of Defense Industries (SSB) head Haluk Gorgun stated that Belgium's large-scale economic mission to Türkiye reflected years of trust-building rather than a sudden shift in interest.
He described the current global moment as a "geopolitical pandemic" in which crises cascade across borders and positioned Türkiye's defense industrial ecosystem as a model partner for allies seeking to prepare together for tomorrow's security challenges.
"This is not something that happens in a day," Gorgun told Türkiye's state-run Anadolu Agency (AA).
"First you sit at the same tables and listen to each other. Then companies get to know each other, institutions start to trust each other. After that, concrete areas of cooperation emerge," he said.
Gorgun traced the bilateral process through the NATO Summit, where he shared a panel with Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken; subsequent contacts at IDEF; and the first Türkiye-Belgium Defense Industry Day, held in Brussels, before the current Ankara mission, during which a Letter of Intent was signed.
Gorgun offered a pointed diagnosis of the current global security environment. "We can define the period we are going through as a 'geopolitical pandemic,'" he said.
"Crises no longer start in one region and stay there, they trigger each other and spread. A political crisis can turn into an energy crisis, an energy crisis into a supply crisis, and it can grip the entire world," he added.
He drew a direct parallel to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying, "During a public health crisis, some countries even seized medical supplies destined for other countries. That day, everyone saw it clearly: when a crisis comes, no one looks at anyone else's tears. Every country is forced to produce its own solution first."
He said Türkiye had read this reality early and had not been caught unprepared.
"Security is not something that can be imported," Gorgun said, noting, "Every country must build its own security architecture, be able to make its own decisions in a crisis, protect its own citizens, keep its own systems running."
Gorgun noted that Ankara's offer to allies was not a closed model, explaining, "We are not proposing a closed model. On the contrary, we are open to win-win, mutually beneficial cooperation that strengthens everyone's own ecosystem."
"Come, let's prepare together not only for today's needs but for tomorrow's security challenges. Belgium has become one of the countries that has heeded this call," he said.
He cited Francken's own public remark, that "Türkiye is far ahead of us, we need to accelerate", as evidence of how Türkiye's progress was being perceived externally.
Gorgun said what Belgian officials saw at Baykar, TAI, Aselsan, Roketsan and Havelsan was not individual products but "a serious engineering accumulation, production discipline, field experience and rapid decision-making capability."
He described the potential scope of cooperation: co-development, co-production, joint third-market action and joint NATO capability solutions.
"Belgium has strong areas, precision components, advanced materials, space technologies, specialized defense electronics. Türkiye has battlefield-proven systems, rapid production capacity and a wide industrial network. When you bring these together correctly, serious value is created for both sides," Gorgun noted.
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The Turkish official closed by rejecting a transactional view of the relationship by stating, "Türkiye's defense industry is no longer just a structure that answers its own needs."
"It is a force that produces solutions together with its allies, contributes to shared security and has real consequences on the ground. What I think about today's contacts is that this is not a strong beginning, it is actually a strong continuation," he concluded.
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