“It should solve this problem within a month, but if they cannot we need to procure this [order] for the Turkish Armed Forces from somewhere else,” said Levent Senel, the head of the Defense Industry Undersecretariat’s land vehicles department.

The National Defense Ministry had signed a deal in 2009 with BMC to produce 468 Kirpis and trucks in a range of sizes, to be delivered by the end of 2012. BMC has agreed to sell 468 Kirpis, armored vehicles, to Turkish defense ministry, but due to its financial problems the production is still175 Kirpis behind.

BMC is currently 175 armored carriers and 105 2.5-ton-capacity trucks behind the agreed schedule. Along with the military, police forces are also waiting for 468 Kirpi with past-due delivery dates.

The company has been in a tight squeeze since last May, when the company first failed to pay salaries on time, and production at BMC factories have halted several times in the intervening period. As a last resort, unpaid workers have protested against the company by marching to Ankara and Istanbul from Izmir, where BMC production is located.

“We have been following this issue, though the public may not always be aware of it, and we have been warning the company regularly,” Senel said.

“This is the first time we have encountered something like this,” he said. “There is a satisfactory vehicle that has passed all the tests and a buyer ready to pay, but the producer cannot deliver the order.”
Senel, who still praises the quality of BMC’s products, said the problem underlying the delay must be the poor financial management of the company.

The official said Turkey had been patient for a year and a half, the total amount of time spent waiting for the delivery, but that the delay had costs for the state due to losses incurred as time passed. In addition to the financial burden, BMC would also be held responsible if any soldier were to be killed in a mine attack in the meantime, he said, adding that these factors were causing the state to run out of patience.