Minsk is ready to expand security cooperation with Turkey

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar’s visit to Belarus has laid out prospects for bilateral cooperation on security matters, which Belarus aspires to expand.

On January 15^th, 2018, President Lukashenka met with Turkey’s National Defence Minister Akar. As usual, he spoke about Belarus’ readiness to develop meaningful cooperation with Ankara. The Turkish delegation visited several military-industrial enterprises and held talks in the Belarusian Defence Ministry and the State Committee for Military Industry. Most meetings were held behind the closed doors and the state media coverage was scarce.

Minsk has been demonstrating an interest in cooperation with Turkey since the late 1990s. Belarusian officials responsible for foreign military-technical cooperation marked Turkey’s fruitful military-industrial cooperation with other post-Soviet states. In addition, in the post-Soviet space, both, Minsk and Ankara developed close partnerships with the same states, including Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Moldova.

Belarusian and Turkish military-industrial complexes have many similar priorities and have already several positive examples of cooperation in such a sensitive area as the missile munition production. Belarusian-Turkish political relations are also favourable for the extended security cooperation, including export-import of military products and technologies. However, given the nature of the ruling regimes in Minsk and Ankara, most aspects of such cooperation are unlikely to be disclosed.