Turkey spending on defense reaches $13.2 billion

Turkey’s defense spending stood at 29.4 billion Turkish Liras ($13.2 billion) this year, Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz said on Nov. 2, in response to a parliamentary question from a deputy of the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

Turkey spent some 1.71 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense in 2014, a drop from the 3.5 percent of its GDP spent on defense in 2002, Yılmaz said, adding that the 2014 defense budget accounted for 3.7 percent of the overall state budget.

Around half of the country’s defense budget goes on personnel spending, such as salaries, benefits and pension payments to retired Turkish Army personnel, he added.

Turkey’s military expenditure per capita in 2013 was 474 liras ($213), Yılmaz said. He also said Turkey’s defense exports stood at $1.4 billion in 2014, while its imports were $1.3 billion.