ANKARA – A Turkish vehicle maker has flourished with booming sales at home and abroad as governments fear social unrest and make use of the company’s anti-riot vehicles.
Katmerciler Ekipman has announced that it won another bid in November to supply Turkey's police force with 50 riot control vehicles equipped with water cannons, known as TOMAs.
The security agencies will pay €11.7 million (US $14.6 million) to the company for the TOMAs, the company said in a statement.
In October, Katmerciler also won a bid to supply 65 TOMAs to the police for €13.6 million. That came on top of an order of 30 TOMAs in May. In 2012, Katmerciler sold only 10 TOMAs to the Turkish government.
"Unrest in Turkey and other countries has made a niche market for companies producing this type of vehicles," an industry source said.
Katmerciler is owned by Ismail Katmerci, a former lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party.
After the police extensively used the TOMAs to crack down on Turkey's 2013 riots, in which millions of Turks took to the streets to protest what they viewed as anti-democratic government practices, the vehicle gained international fame. Since then, Katmerciler has entered new markets including Brazil and Libya.
Company officials say that images broadcast worldwide of Turkish protesters fleeing the anti-riot water cannon trucks may have helped generate business for the Izmir-based company in nations that face social unrest.
About 90 percent of the Katmerciler vehicles are exported to 41 countries, according to the company's 2012 annual report. Key markets include Iraq, Azerbaijan and Nigeria. Syria, which accounted for about 20 percent of exports before the war, is no longer buying. ■
Email: bbekdil@defensenews.com.
