Turkish Interior Ministry: Which Domestic Defense Products Does It Use?

Short answer: Five agencies under Turkey’s Ministry of Interior -the Turkish Gendarmerie (Jandarma), the Turkish National Police (Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğü, EGM), the Turkish Coast Guard, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), and the Presidency of Migration Management- operate a documented range of Turkish-made defense products, each backed by an official source. The Turkish National Police’s aviation fleet alone spans Baykar’s Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicle, the TUSAŞ T129 ATAK attack helicopter, the T625 GÖKBEY utility helicopter and the AKSUNGUR unmanned aerial vehicle. The Gendarmerie’s ground inventory includes BMC’s Kirpi and Vuran armored vehicles alongside ASELSAN thermal cameras and communications systems. The Coast Guard has flown the Bayraktar TB2 since 2022 and operates RMK Marine-built search-and-rescue ships. The Directorate General of Border Management, under the Presidency of Migration Management, delivered 391 thermal-camera-equipped domestic drones to border units in 2025-2026.

This file does not answer “how much of the Interior Ministry’s equipment is Turkish-made?” with a single percentage. The ministry is not a single user: each subordinate agency has its own mandate, procurement process and inventory. The sections below therefore treat the Gendarmerie, the National Police, the Coast Guard, AFAD and the Migration Management authority separately, with every claim tied to an official delivery announcement, a statement from the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), a manufacturer announcement, or a ministry/agency source.

Under our evidence standard, a relationship counts as verified only when it is backed by an official delivery, an official inventory statement, a tender/contract announcement, an SSB or company statement, official ceremony footage, or a ministry source. No single, comprehensive official figure for what share of these five agencies’ combined inventory is domestically produced has been published; this file therefore does not calculate such a percentage and reports only the numbers the agencies themselves have disclosed.

Agencies under the Interior Ministry and their mandates

The Turkish Gendarmerie (Jandarma Genel Komutanlığı) is a military-status law enforcement force responsible for general policing, border security, counterterrorism and public order in rural areas outside municipal boundaries; it has reported to the Interior Ministry since 2016. The Turkish National Police (Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğü, EGM) handles general public order, traffic, narcotics and counterterrorism in provincial and district centers, and is the only civilian police force operating heavy equipment through units such as its Special Operations Department and Aviation Department. The Turkish Coast Guard (Sahil Güvenlik Komutanlığı) is responsible for search and rescue, anti-smuggling operations, irregular migration interdiction and marine pollution response in Turkish territorial waters; it reports to the Interior Ministry in peacetime and to the Naval Forces Command in wartime. AFAD coordinates disaster preparedness, response and post-disaster management, including search-and-rescue information systems. The Presidency of Migration Management oversees irregular migration and border crossings, and -through the Directorate General of Border Management established on 21 November 2023- the physical and electronic security of Turkey’s land borders.

Main table: verified inventory

Table scrolls horizontally. “Not publicly disclosed” means the relevant figure has not been released in official sources; it is not an estimate.

Gendarmerie: ground and reconnaissance systems

BMC-built Kirpi mine-resistant vehicles form the backbone of the Gendarmerie’s armored fleet. According to the Interior Ministry’s 2018 Public Order and Security Review Meeting records, 90 new Kirpi vehicles were delivered in 2017 and a further 194 plus 10 Kirpi ambulances in 2018, bringing the cumulative total to 611 vehicles and 12 ambulances. That figure is an official snapshot from 2018; the current total is not publicly disclosed. In January 2025, a ceremony at BMC’s İzmir Pınarbaşı facility saw 40 Vuran 4×4 tactical wheeled armored vehicles -reported at 95% domestic content, including the engine- delivered to the Gendarmerie; the same ceremony delivered 50 more Vuran and 10 more Kirpi II vehicles to the Land Forces Command.

On the reconnaissance side, the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) announced on 29 July 2020 the first delivery of ASELSAN-built Şahingözü-OD thermal cameras to the Gendarmerie. The system combines a second-generation thermal camera with a high-sensitivity daylight camera for day/night reconnaissance in adverse weather. The GÖZ-MOBİL thermal camera system used by Gendarmerie border units is likewise ASELSAN-built, and the same family is exported to several NATO member states in Europe. On the communications side, JEMUS (the Gendarmerie Integrated Communications and Information System), co-designed by ASELSAN and the Gendarmerie, provides uninterrupted voice and data communication during disasters and operations. In the air, the Gendarmerie has flown Baykar-built Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs since 2014; one officially disclosed single delivery, announced by then-SSB President İsmail Demir, was a batch of 3, and the current total fleet size has not been confirmed in public sources.

National Police: from the air fleet to ground units

Among Interior Ministry agencies, the Turkish National Police has the widest range of domestic defense products. Its Aviation Department received its first T625 GÖKBEY general-purpose helicopter on 2 September 2026; at the handover ceremony, Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi and TUSAŞ officials stated that 18 GÖKBEY helicopters would be delivered in phases. Before that, the first T129 ATAK attack helicopter was delivered on 25 February 2021, with officials stating it would be deployed primarily in Diyarbakır, Van, Şırnak and Hakkari for counterterrorism, narcotics and organized-crime operations. On 13 April 2026, according to Anadolu Agency, a ceremony at TUSAŞ’s Kahramankazan facility saw one AKSUNGUR unmanned aerial vehicle, one T129 ATAK and one T-70 general-purpose helicopter delivered to the National Police Aviation Department; the AKSUNGUR delivery, able to remain airborne for 48 hours and communicate via domestic satellites, brought the force’s advanced UAV count to 30. The aviation fleet’s UAV/UCAV leg also includes a 6-unit Bayraktar TB2 delivery announced on 5 December 2019 by then-SSB President İsmail Demir, which he said brought the nationwide Bayraktar TB2 total to 98; the National Police’s use of the TB2 dates back to 2016.

On the ground, the Special Operations Department’s inventory includes BMC-built Kirpi and Vuran armored vehicles fitted with the ATOK (Military Tactical Operation Kit), a squad-level communications and real-time intelligence system developed by BİTES that combines an augmented-reality headset, a smart watch and a mobile computer; according to Anadolu Agency’s 24 October 2022 report, Special Operations units use the system, which was also field-tested by the Special Forces Command and Gendarmerie Special Operations units. On urban security, ASELSAN’s ODAKAN mobile facial-recognition camera and GEKO license-plate recognition system, developed with the National Police’s IT and Communications Department, are used 24/7 across 81 provinces and 920 districts independent of fixed infrastructure, per Anadolu Agency.

Coast Guard: maritime surveillance and search and rescue

The Coast Guard received its first Bayraktar TB2 on 20 October 2022, per Anadolu Agency; the Presidency of Defense Industries announced that 6 Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs were delivered along with 6 domestic CATS camera systems, marking the type’s first entry into the Coast Guard’s inventory. On the surface fleet side, the 88-meter, 12-meter-beam, roughly 1,700-ton TCSG Dost, TCSG Güven and TCSG Umut search-and-rescue ships -built by RMK Marine under a contract won in 2006- were delivered in 2013 in official ceremonies organized by the Interior Ministry, followed by TCSG Yaşam in 2014; the ships perform search and rescue as well as patrol, anti-smuggling, firefighting and pollution-response duties and carry helicopter-operation capability. On coastal surveillance, the Coastal Surveillance Radar System (SGRS) -its software developed by HAVELSAN, its radar and electro-optical components by ASELSAN- had its first software package delivered to the Coast Guard in June 2020.

AFAD: software infrastructure and localization work; no major platform delivery verified

Unlike the Gendarmerie, National Police or Coast Guard, this research did not identify a major defense-industry platform (UAV, helicopter, armored vehicle, etc.) officially verified as owned by AFAD itself. UAVs and helicopters seen in earthquake zones belong to the Turkish Armed Forces under the Ministry of National Defense, not to AFAD, and cannot be described as being “in AFAD’s inventory.” AFAD’s verifiable links to the defense industry ecosystem center on two areas: AYDES (the Integrated Disaster Management System), operated by its own Information Systems and Communications Department, and a localization project launched in November 2023 aiming to bring domestic production to 14 of the 34 search-and-rescue materials and devices -lifting bags, tripods, masks, batteries, helmets, fans, decontamination solutions and similar- previously imported from Germany, the United States, Finland, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom. Per the Interior Ministry’s own description, this project is an R&D and localization effort rather than a direct delivery relationship with defense-industry companies.

Migration Management Presidency: drones and surveillance towers on the border

The Directorate General of Border Management, established within the Presidency of Migration Management on 21 November 2023, has fielded 391 thermal-camera-equipped, foldable, new-generation drones to border units, per Anadolu Agency; 153 were delivered in 2025 and 238 in 2026. The units can fly up to 7,000 meters, reach a maximum speed of 25 m/s, remain airborne for 41-59 minutes and transmit uninterrupted video from 15-40 kilometers away; the manufacturer was not named in reporting. On fixed border surveillance, contracts signed with ASELSAN in 2019 and 2020 -85% EU-funded- envisaged border surveillance towers at 352 sites across Hakkari, Van, Ağrı, Iğdır, Kars, Edirne and Kırklareli; as of the report date, 170 sites had been accepted. Because this tower project predates the Directorate General of Border Management’s 2023 establishment, this file classifies it under the Interior Ministry’s general border-security remit rather than attributing it directly to the Migration Management Presidency.

Official domestic-content ratio

No single, comprehensive and current official figure for what share of the five Interior Ministry agencies’ combined inventory is domestically produced was found in this research. Domestic-content figures exist only at the product level, disclosed by the manufacturer or SSB: BMC’s own press release states 95% domestic content -including the TUNA engine- for the Vuran and Kirpi II armored vehicles. For other products (TB2, GÖKBEY, ATAK, AKSUNGUR, ASELSAN systems, RMK Marine ships), no specific domestic-content percentage disclosed by the agency or manufacturer was identified; branding a product as “national and domestic” does not by itself mean a component-level domestic-content figure has been published. The presence of several domestic platforms in an agency’s inventory does not mean most of that agency’s inventory is domestic; for the National Police, for example, no current, comprehensive official breakdown of how many Aviation Department platforms are imported versus domestic is publicly available.

Manufacturer-to-agency links

For each manufacturer, the table below summarizes which Interior Ministry agencies and sub-units use its products.

What is not publicly disclosed

This file’s scope is deliberately limited. It does not cover the security posture of critical facilities, current province/district-level deployment breakdowns, real-time locations or patrol patterns, operational communication frequencies, or schematic-level detail that could create risk if aggregated. The total Bayraktar TB2 fleet size for the Gendarmerie and National Police, any undisclosed procurement relationships between AFAD and defense-industry companies, and a comprehensive domestic-content ratio for the Interior Ministry’s combined agency inventory were not identifiable from public sources.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Anadolu Agency, “Sahil Güvenlik Komutanlığına ilk ‘Bayraktar TB2’ teslimatı yapıldı,” 20.10.2022. Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
2. Anadolu Agency, “Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğünün ilk Atak helikopteri teslim edildi,” 25.02.2021. Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
3. Anadolu Agency, “Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğüne yeni hava araçları teslim edildi,” 13.04.2026. Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
4. Anadolu Agency, “Özel harekat birliklerine ‘geleceğin askeri’ teknolojisi” (ATOK), 24.10.2022. Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
5. Anadolu Agency, “ASELSAN mobil yüz ve plaka tanıma sistemleriyle güvenliğe katkı sağlıyor.” Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
6. Anadolu Agency, “Sınır güvenliği için termal kameralı 391 dron envantere alındı,” 06.06.2026. Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
7. Anadolu Agency, “Türkiye sınırları ASELSAN teknolojileriyle donatılıyor.” Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
8. haber.aero, “Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğü ilk GÖKBEY’i teslim aldı,” 02.09.2026. Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
9. Defence Turkey Magazine, “Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğü’ne 6 adet Bayraktar TB2 Teslim Edildi,” 05.12.2019. Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
10. BMC, “BMC ilk seri üretim yerli ve milli motorlu taktik tekerlekli zırhlı araçları teslim etti” (press release), January 2025. Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
11. Interior Ministry of Turkey, “Jandarma Genel Komutanlığı 2018 Yılı Emniyet ve Asayiş Değerlendirme Toplantısı.” Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
12. Interior Ministry of Turkey, “Sahil Güvenlik Arama Kurtarma Gemisi ‘TCSG Güven’in Teslim Töreni,” 21.11.2013. Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
13. Interior Ministry of Turkey, “Afetlerde Yerli ve Milli Arama Kurtarma Cihazları Kullanılacak.” Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
14. Interior Ministry of Turkey, “Göç İdaresi Başkanlığı’nda ‘Sınır Yönetimi Genel Müdürlüğü’ Kuruldu,” 21.11.2023. Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
15. AFAD, “Bütünleşik Afet Yönetim Sistemi.” Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
16. DefenceTurk, “Jandarma’ya Şahingözü-OD Termal Kameraların ilk teslimatı yapıldı,” 29.07.2020. Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
17. RMK Marine, “Sahil Güvenlik Arama ve Kurtarma Gemileri.” Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.
18. Son Dakika, “3 adet Bayraktar TB2 İHA Jandarma’ya teslim edildi.” Link. Accessed: 25.09.2026.

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