Turkey to increase its defense and security budget to 18.2 billion TL

The Defense Ministry’s budget was taken up in Parliament on Dec. 13 and the new one has been fixed at TL 18.2 billion for the 2012 fiscal year, marking a 7.4 percent increase over 2011.

The Turkish Ministry of Defense budget has been fixed at TL18.2 billion for the 2012 fiscal year, marking a 7.4 percent increase over 2011. The Defense Ministry budget will make up 1.3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) for 2012. But these figures and ratios do not include the extra budgetary funds earmarked for defense, which are not available even to legislators.The Defense Ministry’s budget was taken up in Parliament on Dec. 13 and the new budget was approved. Yet, legislators have once again failed to question the unavailability of the extra budgetary funds allocated to the defense industry, which are not included in the ministry’s budget. The ministry’s budget is composed of the budgets of the Defense Ministry, the air, navy and land forces as well as the General Staff.

The new Court of Auditors Law adopted late in 2011 is hoped to help the introduction of a more transparent process for the oversight of military expenditures.

Meanwhile, a study released recently by Bilgi University, showed that the ratio of Turkey’s defense and security budgets within the GDP in 2010 was over 3.7 percent. But again this ratio is misleading since extra budgetary funds set aside for defense are not available.

Defense and security budgets

Funds allocated to both the Defense Ministry and other institutions responsible for the country’s security and law and order comprised around $39 billion (11.1 percent) of the total fiscal year budget for 2012. Still this percentage does not represent the additional budgetary funds that have been allotted for defense and are based on figures made available by the relevant ministries, some of which have provided restricted information.

The Ministry of Defense’s budget comprised 5.2 percent of the total budget for the 2012 fiscal year compared to 5.4 percent last year. The budget for the Public Order and Security Undersecretariat has been fixed at TL19.1 million, marking a 30.4 percent increase over last year, while the General Directorate of Security budget was set at TL12.1 billion, marking a 14.6 percent increase over last year.

The Security General Directorate’s share of the total budget for the 2012 fiscal year stands at 3.5 percent.

The budget of the Gendarmerie General Command (JGK) will be TL4.9 billion for 2012, a 7.6 percent increase compared to 2011, while the Interior Ministry budget will be TL2.5 billion, marking a 14.8 percent increase over last year. The JGK’s share of the total budget for the 2012 fiscal year saw an increase of 1.4 percent, while the Ministry of Interior’s share of the budget increased by 0.007 percent.

The Coast Guard Command (SGK) budget has been set at TL375.9 million, an 18.9 percent increase over last year, and the budget of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) will be TL750.9, a 12.8 percent rise over last year. TL14.3 million has been allocated to the General Secretariat of the National Security Council (MGK), which is a 5.4 percent increase compared to last year.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health will see a cut in its 2012 budget, with TL14.3 billion, a 16.7 percent decrease from last year. The Justice Ministry will have a budget of TL5.2 billion, while the budget for the newly established Science, Industry and Technology Ministry has been set at TL2.2 billion. The Foreign Ministry budget, meanwhile, will be TL1.3 billion for 2012.

The Ministry of Education budget has seen a 14.8 percent rise in its budget compared to 2011, at TL 39.1 billion. It’s ratio within the GDP in 2012 will be 2.75 percent.

According to the study conducted by İstanbul-based Bilgi University between 1988 and 2004, Turkey’s military spending was above education spending except for two years. In 2004, two years after Turkey’s military spending began to decrease in 2002, spending on education exceeded military spending, the same report said. This comprehensive report was published by the Public Expenditures Monitoring Platform, which is composed of 52 nongovernmental Organizations.

The report, however, also underlines that monitoring military spending in Turkey has various difficulties. “The figures of the Defense Ministry, the Gendarmerie General Command [JGK] and the Coast Guard Command [SGK] can be easily obtained via the website of the Ministry of Finance. Although those figures are easily accessible, obtaining detailed figures and long-term estimations on the spending of the Defense Industry Support Fund [SSDF], the Turkish Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation [MKE] and village guards as well as payments made through funds [that are neither available to the legislators nor to the public] or foreign credit intended for military spending, are not possible. Even though we state that data are accessible, we do not claim that the available information is transparent,” the report states.

In addition, information on the budgets of around 16 military-owned state companies, including Havelsan and Roketsan, which are affiliated with the Foundation to Strengthen the Turkish Armed Forces (TSKGV), are not available. It is not expected either that auditors will carry out inspections of these companies under the Court of Auditors Law.

The Taraf daily asked Ömer Dinçer, the minister of education, in an interview on Nov. 28 whether despite claims that the Education Ministry’s budget is now higher than the Defense Ministry’s budget, this was actually the case considering the extra budget allocated to the Defense Ministry, which is still unknown.

Dinçer responded, saying that the budget of the Education Ministry was about TL60 billion for 2011 if the budgets of certain institutions, including High Education Board (YÖK) and universities, are included. Whereas, he said, the defense budget was around TL39 billion for 2011, when the budgets of the SSDF, military companies and other similar resources are included.

Poor state of military technology

According to Minister of Defense İsmet Yılmaz, the ratio of meeting the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK)’s military equipment requirements through domestic production has reached 52 percent from around 15 percent in 2004 under the 2010 figures. Information on whether this ratio comprises critical military technologies is not available.

However, Müslim Sarı, a deputy from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), stated during a Planning and the Budgetary Commission (PBK) discussion on the Defense Ministry’s budget on Nov. 4, Turkey still depends on critical military technologies abroad.

He also urged that the ratio of funds earmarked for Research and Development (R&D) defense projects be increased to 5 percent from the existing 2 percent.

Outlining his ministry’s budget during the session on the Defense Ministry budget in November at Parliament’s PBK, Yılmaz stated that under the 2010 figures, Turkey realized a $853,5 million worth exports in the fields of defense and aviation. Funds allocated to R&D in the defense industry went up to $666 million.

Striking example of noncompliance to transparency

One of the underlying problems in tracing defense expenditures in Turkey is its nontransparent nature. Below is a striking example of this taken from Bilgi University’s report:

“When we analyzed the allocation sheets evaluated by Parliament and shared with the public via the Ministry of Finance’s General Directorate of Budget and Financial Control, we observed that the Ministry of Defense had is two-and-a-half pages of allocation sheets and General Command of the Gendarmerie two pages, while the Finance Ministry, Health Ministry, the National Police Force and the Ministry of Internal Affairs had 41, 24, 28 and 12.5 pages respectively. … Another institution for which information is lacking is the TSKGV. It’s income is sourced from its affiliates, which in 2009 constituted 42 percent of the total turnover of the defense industry in Turkey, and part of its funds are allocated to military projects.”

The report says, military spending for 2010 was calculated to be 2.48 percent of the GDP, which falls to 2.14 when the estimates covering the TSKGV and military pensions are excluded.

16.12.2011
SOURCE: TODAYS ZAMAN