Turkiye-UAE defense ties grow

The Arab Gulf states have historically sought to build partnerships with regional countries through defense and security agreements. In terms of defense cooperation, Turkiye has been getting back into the picture in the Gulf region since last year. Turkish-Gulf defense, security and military cooperation comes after years of rivalry between Ankara and some of the Gulf leaderships. The normalization era between Turkiye and the Gulf countries has not only led to deals of investment and currency swaps, but it has also paved the way for closer security and defense collaboration.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, along with his entourage, this week paid an official visit to Abu Dhabi, where he came together with his Emirati counterpart, Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, and UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. A discussion on enhancing cooperation in the police and security fields between the two countries was on the agenda. In this regard, the two interior ministers announced they had decided to establish a “Joint Strategic Policing Dialogue.”

In February, Turkiye and the UAE inked 13 agreements, one of which was to start holding bilateral defense industry cooperation meetings. Ankara and Abu Dhabi had already signed a memorandum of understanding on defense industry cooperation in 2011 and this was ratified in 2017. However, tensions between the two countries in the years after the ratification of the memorandum of understanding interrupted the cooperation process.

Now, the two countries now hope to leverage their rapprochement to counter their common security and economic challenges. In September, the

UAE received the first batch of armed drones that it ordered from Turkiye as part of their fast-improving relations. The UAE reportedly received 20 armed drones, marking the first shipment of the 120 Bayraktar TB2 drones it wants to buy from Turkiye.

The shipment came only eight months after Ankara and Abu Dhabi reconciled and restored relations. Although Tawazun, the Emirati defense and security acquisitions authority, and Turkiye’s Baykar Defense, which manufactures the renowned Bayraktar TB2 drone, had discussions over possible cooperation in March 2021, this development has surprised many due to both its timing and content.

The UAE is not the only country in the region that has fixed its eyes on acquiring Baykar’s drones.

After their impact on the conflicts in Syria, Ukraine and Libya, international demand for Turkish drones has rocketed. Libya was one of the regional theaters in which Turkish and Emirati interests collided. However, the reconciliation with Ankara has led the Gulf countries to once again turn their focus toward their longstanding enemy: Iran.

With instability growing in this volatile region, the shifts in threat perception and the security orientation have pushed the Gulf countries and Turkiye to consolidate their political and economic relations through security and defense collaboration.