Turska the state-owned special industry company MKE signed an agreement on the construction of a turnkey ammunition production facility at Kosovo, which is the latest step that shows the improvement of defense ties between Ankara and Pristina.
Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti he previously said that Kosovo plans to build its first ammunition factory and drone design laboratory.
The factory of the Turkish company MKE will have an annual production capacity of 20 million bullets, and it is planned to be completed in 2026, reports FoNet.
According to the agreement, the Turkish company will provide Kosovo with machines for the production of cartridges and bullets, loading and assembly lines, as well as laboratory and testing equipment.
In addition, MKE staff will provide manufacturing, maintenance and repair training, as well as technical assistance to the local workforce.
Turkish delivery of drones to Kosovo
The agreement on the construction of a facility for the production of ammunition, signed by the Turkish state-owned special industry company MKE, comes after the Turkish giant "Bajkar" delivered several thousand kamikaze drones to Kosovo earlier this month, which raised a lot of dust in Serbia and apparently angered the Serbian president. Aleksandar Vučić.
The matter was further aggravated by the fact that only a year ago, Vučić and the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with a lot of mutual support in their statements, considered the possibility of Turkish drones ending up in Serbia.
The new Serbian security "nightmare" was initiated by Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti, who boasted on social networks that "Skydagger" drones ordered from Turkey had arrived in Pristina.
Kurti triumphantly illustrated the news with a photo in which, in the company of a soldier and a civilian, he is smiling contentedly posing in front of a military truck, and behind them is the sign of the international airport in Pristina named after Adem Jašari.
To further raise tensions, Kurti emphasized that the drones were initially planned to arrive in Pristina in January 2026, but they were delivered three months earlier, in accordance with the contract with the Turkish company "Bajkar".
Drones "Skydagger" carry explosives and can target moving and static targets, and depending on the model can carry explosive devices weighing from two to five kilograms.
Pristina previously acquired Turkish TB2 "Bayraktar" drones and American "Puma" drones.
"Rebuilding the Ottoman Empire"
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić then reacted by declaring that he was "disgusted" by Turkey's behavior, "brutal violation" UN Charter and Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council and the continuous arming of the authorities in Pristina.
He added that "now it is completely clear that Turkey does not want stability in the Western Balkans and that it dreams again of the restoration of the Ottoman Empire" and pointed out:
"Serbia is a small country, but we understand their true intentions," Vučić wrote on Instagram at the time.
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