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TR 
The Turkish A&D industry which supports the second largest standing military force in NATO, has undergone and is undergoing a major transformation with faster coming-out of new technologies and new players expected to become increasingly important globally.
In the meantime, Turkey’s foreign policy, the economic conditions, and the direction of the country for the last years, and the recent incidents that occurred which have had considerable impacts on the economic and political position made it increasingly difficult to meet expectations in A&D export especially to western countries.
In this fireside chat, our expert panelists will be sharing insights on:
- An overview of the A&D business landscapes.
- The impact and ripple effects resulting from the recent sanctions.
- Navigating issues faced by A&D businesses doing business in Turkey.
- Legal and regulatory issues faced by industry players.
- Privatization and public offerings in the Turkish A&D industry
Arda Mevlütoğlu
Arda Mevlutoglu holds a BSc degree in Astronautical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University and MS degrees in Science and Technology Policy Studies and in International Relations from Middle East Technical University.
Between 2004 and 2015, he worked as a systems engineer, technology consultant, and senior consultant in several firms in the defense sector in Türkiye, assuming responsibilities in a large number of modeling, simulation and training, and aerospace programs. Since 2015 he has been working as the vice president of defense programs of an international trading and consultancy company. He is also a member of the board of the Institute for Future Research (Gelecek Araştırmaları Enstitüsü), a non-profit, non-governmental organization for improving science and technology education in Türkiye.
Mevlutoglu’s academic research is focused on aerospace and defense technologies, defense policies, and armament programs, and he has authored numerous books, book chapters, reports and articles in these topics. Mevlutoglu’s comments, quotes, and articles have been published in international media outlets including Time, CNN, BBC, Bloomberg, Reuters, Euronews, Deutsche Welle, AFP, el Pais, Financial Times, Independent, The Economist, Der Spiegel, Nikkei, France24, TRT, Anatolian Agency.
Şafak Herdem
Şafak Herdem is the founder and managing partner of the HERDEM Attorneys at Law, Istanbul, Türkiye-based law firm focusing on international trade and other international business issues having a special focus on aerospace & defense. Mr. Herdem represents, among others, numerous U.S., Canadian, ASEAN, Middle Eastern, and European companies on issues arising under international trade both in advisory and dispute settlement matters.
During the past ten years, Mr. Herdem has been working to attract new investors, identify new economic models, turn the new inflow of information into new projects, analyze sectors in detail, and finally helping to establish a wide communication network in industrial cooperation programs in the defense industry. Today as a result of great relationships with both public and private sector entities, Mr. Herdem acts as a consultant to major organizations and an ambassador of goodwill bridging foreign investment with local Turkish industry and helping to forge new and important commercial alliances. In efforts, such initiative he introduced Global Offset and Industrial Cooperation Association, a U.S.-based NGO, that provides a forum for industry and government leaders to connect, share best practices, policy updates, success stories, and lessons learned for creating and implementing industrial cooperation & partnership programs that deliver sustainable economic and social benefits to the countries where they are established, to American Turkish Business Society in recent years with a panel moderated by Mr. Herdem at American Turkish Council.
