Turkey Embarks Upon Ballistic Missiles: Why and How?

Abstract

From the late-1980s, and in response to the rapid spread of ballistic missiles in her neighborhood, Turkey has opted to add a symmetrical ingredient to her traditional policy of asymmetrical response, and began developing and deploying her own ballistic missiles. Additionally, thanks to the rapid technological progress during the last 10-15 years, shorter range ballistic missiles have been rendered attractive weapon systems even for countries like Turkey with access to advanced air power assets. Thanks to multi-phased development program, Turkey has recently deployed ballistic missile with a range of up to 300 km, whereas development work has been underway on longer-range derivatives.

Keywords

Ballistic Missiles, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Deterrence (Strategy), Turkish Defense Policy, Missile Defense.

Citation

Egeli, Sıtkı, “Turkey Embarks Upon Ballistic Missiles: Why and How?“, International Relations, Volume 14, No. 56, 2017, pp. 3-22.

Affiliations

• Sıtkı EGELİ, Assist. Prof. Dr., Department of Political Science and International Relations, İzmir University of Economics