Waiting in the Wings: Drone Maker Bayraktar Seen as Possible Erdoğan Successor

In Libya, Bayraktar TB2 drones helped the official government in Tripoli stamp down an uprising by warlord Khalifa Haftar. In Nagorno-Karabakh, they played a decisive role in Azerbaijan's victory over Armenia, after which autocrat Ilham Aliyev celebrated by presenting footage of drone strikes on video screens in the capital city of Baku. The Ukrainians mainly deployed them in the first months of the war, before Russian air defenses adapted their strategy. The fact that the drones are supplied primarily to countries that are close to the Erdoğan government is conspicuous. Baykar is the flagship of Turkey's defense industry, which has grown tenfold since Erdoğan came to power in 2003.