Turkey: 86% increase in the Defence Ministry budget for 2027 – purchases of weapons and ammunition up 229%

Turkey is increasing the budget of the Ministry of National Defence for 2027 by 86.2%. According to the justification of the budget bill, published by the Presidency of Strategy and Budget (SBB) on October 16, the ministry’s appropriations rise from 822.9 billion Turkish lira in 2026 to 1.53 trillion lira in 2027. Forecasts for the following years are 1.80 trillion lira in 2028 and 2.07 trillion lira in 2029.

Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz, who presented the budget in Ankara, said that the funds for purchases of weapons, ammunition and weapon systems within the Defence Ministry’s budget rise by 229%. According to him, total defence spending, together with funds of other bodies, reaches 2.206 trillion lira, about 44.5 billion dollars.

In the functional breakdown of spending, the category “Defence Services” reaches 2.166 trillion lira in 2027. It corresponds to 7.3% of total expenditure, while 2.54 and 2.91 trillion lira are forecast for 2028 and 2029 respectively. The Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB), which manages the big procurement programmes, has its own administrative budget of 2.16 billion lira for 2027. In absolute numbers, the ministry’s appropriations rise by about 710 billion lira within a year. The documents are posted on the SBB page and the bill will be debated in the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

The figures in lira are affected by Turkey’s high inflation, but the increase in purchases of weapons and ammunition is far bigger than the general rise in spending. At the same time Ankara is escalating pressure in the Eastern Mediterranean, with a counter-NAVTEX for the EUNOMIA exercise and for the surveys of the Greece–Cyprus electricity cable.

The same day, in Istanbul, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan received Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and said he was pleased with his country’s interest in the products of the Turkish defence industry. According to the Turkish Presidency, the two countries signed a military agreement framework, in the presence of SSB head Haluk Görgün as well. “We took concrete steps to strengthen our cooperation in politics, defence and security,” Hun Manet said.