'Next Iran'?: Turkey accelerates 60,000-tonne aircraft carrier amid Israel tensions
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Ragip Soylu
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Wed, 04/29/2026 - 22:02
As Israel likens Turkey to Iran and deepens ties with Greece and Cyprus, Ankara bets on naval power to reassert itself
Turkish frigate (F-496) and Italian vessel San Giorgio (L 9892) during Nato’s premier enhanced Vigilance Activity (eVA) Neptune Strike 2025-3 in the Adriatic Sea, 24 September 2025 (AFP)
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While the world's attention is fixed on the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Turkish shipyards are busy constructing the country's first national aircraft carrier, the Mugem.
Turkey's Naval Forces Commander Admiral Ercument Tatlioglu said last week that the aircraft carrier is expected to be finished towards the end of next year, creating a buzz.
The statement suggests that the ship’s hull will be completed nearly a year ahead of the originally announced schedule.
The ship, the largest warship ever built in the country, is expected to have a displacement of 60,000 tonnes and measure 285 metres in length. It will surpass the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (261 metres, 42,500 tonnes), which has until now been the Mediterranean’s most powerful flagship. It is designed to host 60 aircraft, featuring a short take-off system.
Many in Ankara see the rapid progress of the project, which was only launched in August 2025 with the personal attendance of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as a sign that Turkey is determined to build up its arsenal to establish the necessary deterrence capabilities against state actors.
Tensions between Turkey and Israel have recently been running high, with Israeli leaders from both the government and the opposition increasingly likening Turkey to Iran in their rhetoric.
Naftali Bennett, a popular opposition leader who could likely become the next prime minister of Israel, famously told a conference in Washington in February that Turkey was "the next Iran".
Isolated in the Eastern Mediterranean
Ankara has accelerated projects in air defence and unmanned platforms, as well as the fifth-generation Kaan fighter jet production line, following two rounds of war between Israel and Iran and the US.
Meysune Yasar, an academic specialising in Turkish naval power, said Israel's growing alliance with Greece and Cyprus is pushing Turkey to focus on its naval capabilities.
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Even though such aircraft carriers are usually developed for open seas, Yasar says Ankara may see Mugem as a lever that can deter potential hostile actors in the region.
"The warming relations between Greek Cyprus and Israel have made this alliance very effective, and their posture is becoming quite aggressive," Yasar told Middle East Eye.
"Turkey is becoming isolated in the Eastern Mediterranean, and this aircraft carrier is both an additional capability and a strategic necessity."
Building an aircraft carrier isn't a novel idea in Turkey. Its roots can be traced to the early 1990s.
Yanki Bagcioglu, a former admiral in the Turkish navy, said that a concept for open-sea deployments was developed in 1993, which included light aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships, and transatlantic power projection.
He told MEE that the project materialised around 2017, as a response to a study on the future of the naval force.
"The need for an aircraft carrier came to the forefront," he said.
The original plans, including those for Ankara's drone carrier TCG Anadolu, envisioned the purchase of fifth-generation stealth fighter jets, the F-35. However, Turkey was expelled from the programme in 2019, forcing it to find alternatives.
For now, the Turkish military plans to heavily use the Kizilelma unmanned fighter jet, which has stealth capabilities, along with the Hurjet light combat aircraft and a potential naval version of the Kaan fifth-generation fighter jet on the ship. The Bayraktar TB3, which is already operating on TCG Anadolu with an AI-assisted short take-off capability, will also be deployed.
Bargaining power
Alper Coskun, a former Turkish ambassador, said the aircraft carrier project is another sign that Turkey is well positioned within the European security architecture with robust defence industry capabilities.
Coskun, now a senior fellow with the Carnegie think tank in Washington, added that the carrier would elevate Turkey's standing within Nato, as the US calls on allies to contribute more and increasingly signals that it may abandon Europe.
"In that sense, it will increase Turkey's bargaining power. But these things come at a cost," he said. "It could also fuel tensions in the region and trigger a new threat perception."
A recent round of tensions with Greece in 2020 led to a military alliance between France and Greece, in which both countries pledged support for each other's sovereignty.
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Coskun believes these "threat perceptions" held by other states, including Israel, should be managed by Ankara to prevent possible escalations.
Israel's naval capability is limited and mostly focused on maintaining a naval embargo on Gaza or conducting special missions.
Experts note, however, that the wars in Ukraine and Iran revealed vulnerabilities of large naval ships against small drones and ballistic missiles, including aircraft carriers.
An F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet fell from the USS Harry S Truman into the Red Sea after the carrier made a high-speed manoeuvre to evade Houthi fire in April last year. US aircraft carriers largely stayed out of the direct range of Iranian missiles during the latest war on Iran.
The Turkish carrier is expected to be armed with defence systems such as a vertical launching system, a close-in weapons system, and a remote weapons system to counter asymmetric threats.
Istanbul Shipyard Commander Rear Admiral Recep Erdinc Yetkin told Turkish TV in March that the project was progressing at such a pace that they had already produced the flight ramp, which would be tested at an airport later this year.
The ship is being built rapidly thanks to multiple shipyards that can simultaneously produce mega-blocks. The ship is expected to be fully operational by 2030.
Gunboat diplomacy
One dimension Ankara insiders highlight is Turkey's growing footprint in North Africa, particularly Libya, and its investments in the Horn of Africa, specifically Sudan and Somalia.
Turkey is already drilling for energy resources off the coast of Somalia and plans to establish a space launch facility in the country. An aircraft carrier could act as an important defence mechanism for these interests.
Bagcioglu, now deputy chairman of Turkey's main opposition party CHP, said he personally wants to see Turkey owning an aircraft carrier but added that the timing is not right given the country's limited financial resources.
'Turkey is becoming isolated in the Eastern Mediterranean, and this aircraft carrier is both an additional capability and a strategic necessity'
- Meysune Yasar, academic
He noted that Turkey already has an airbase in Northern Cyprus that effectively operates as an unsinkable aircraft carrier in the middle of the Mediterranean.
"We should prioritise urgent needs such as the Kaan fighter jet project, since we lack advanced combat jets, as well as building up more air defence systems to protect critical facilities and constructing a destroyer," Bagcioglu said.
Bagcioglu acknowledged that the carrier would trouble Greece and could be used in gunboat diplomacy scenarios, but added that it also requires multiple ships as part of a strike group - a cargo airplane, a submarine, early warning aircraft, and multiple naval helicopters, which Turkey currently lacks.
He said instead that Ankara must rapidly complete eight Istanbul-class frigates, of which only one is currently in service, as well as Tepe-class anti-air warfare destroyers, planned at eight units but with only one currently in production, and modernise its four Barbaros-class frigates.
"Then we wouldn't even need an aircraft carrier," he added.
Yasar disagrees. She said Ankara could find the resources to build all these platforms gradually over time.
"I definitely believe an aircraft carrier would create an impact in the neighbourhood," she said. "And it would be a force multiplier in the long run overseas."
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