Görgün receives Japanese parliamentary delegation for defence industry talks
Prof. Dr. Haluk Görgün, head of Türkiye’s Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB), received Ichiro Aisawa, chairman of the Türkiye-Japan Parliamentary Friendship Group, and his accompanying delegation. The meeting took place in Ankara on 17 September 2026.
According to the SSB statement, the talks covered opportunities for cooperation in the defence industry along with joint work areas focused on technology and capability. The agency thanked the delegation for the visit.
What parliamentary diplomacy does
Parliamentary friendship groups are institutionalised contact channels between the legislatures of two countries. They hold no binding decision-making power, but they set agendas, open doors for intergovernmental talks and take the political temperature before formal processes begin. In defence industry matters — where export licences and technology sharing are involved — contacts of this kind typically sit in the preparatory phase, ahead of any negotiation.
Aisawa is a veteran figure in Japan’s House of Representatives and chairs the friendship group with Türkiye. That the delegation was received at the level of the SSB presidency suggests the meeting carried substance beyond protocol courtesy.
Japan’s shifting defence posture
For decades Japan operated under self-imposed restrictions on defence exports. The Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment, adopted in 2014 and progressively broadened since, gave Tokyo considerably more room for joint work and transfers with foreign partners. Successive decisions to raise the defence budget form part of the same shift.
Japanese industry is therefore in a more flexible position than in the past when it comes to engaging manufacturers outside its own ecosystem. Defence industrial ties between Türkiye and Japan have been limited to date, but the two industrial bases are complementary in specific areas: Japan holds depth in sensors, materials science, advanced electronics and robotics, while Türkiye is positioned in unmanned systems, missile technology and cost-competitive serial production.
The language of “capability-focused” work
The SSB’s reference to “technology and capability-focused joint work areas” indicates the meeting was not built around a platform sale or a procurement agenda. Wording of that kind usually points to co-development, subsystem supply, shared test infrastructure or the creation of joint working groups in defined technology fields.
That matches the approach Ankara has taken more broadly in recent years. Türkiye has sought to move beyond selling finished systems toward positioning itself as a partner in co-production and technology partnerships — a framing that has also shaped its talks with Indonesia, Malaysia and Gulf states.
No memorandum or agreement was announced following the meeting. Whether the contact continues at technical level will depend on the steps taken next by the relevant institutions on both sides.
Sources: Presidency of Defence Industries, İhlas News Agency.
