Turkey’s president on Sunday attended a dual ceremony commissioning a new Turkish naval ship while starting construction of a ship set to be sold to Pakistan’s navy.
Turkey is one of 10 countries worldwide able to build, design, and maintain warships using its own national capabilities, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the ceremony for the TCG Kinaliada, commissioned today for the Turkish navy, and a MILGEM (Turkish national warship programme)-class ship being built for Pakistan.
The construction of first of the four Stealth MILGEM-Class Warships for Pakistan Navy kicked off at Turkey’s Istanbul Shipyard on Sunday. In this regard, a ceremony was held which was attended by Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistan’s Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Zafar M. Abbasi. Both dignitaries jointly cut the first metal plate to officially start the ship building process.
In July 2018, Pakistan Navy signed a contract for the acquisition of four MILGEM-class ships from Turkey.
“Our navy, rich with glorious victories, is carrying this legacy into the future by further strengthening it,” said Erdogan. Its top-class “equipment, discipline, qualified personnel and all the accomplishments it undertakes” make Turkey proud, he added.
‘Turkey, Pakistan stand together’
