The war against the Kurdish people is reflected in Ankara's military spending. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, this increased by 24 percent in 2018 compared to the previous year.
Total world military expenditure rose to $1822 billion in 2018, representing an increase of 2.6 per cent from 2017, according to new data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The five biggest spenders in 2018 were the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, India and France, which together accounted for 60 per cent of global military spending.
According to SIPRI, military spending in Turkey increased by 24 per cent in 2018 to $19.0 billion, the highest annual percentage increase among the world’s top 15 military spenders. The increase in defense costs since 2009 is as high as 65 percent in Turkey. In an interview with Deutsche Welle, SIPRI employee Nan Tian explains that, in the case of Turkey, the increase can also be explained by the increased arms spending caused by the war against the Kurds in northern Syria.
As in previous years, first place in defense spending in the past year was the US ($ 649 billion), followed by China ($ 250 billion), Saudi Arabia ($ 67.6 billion), India ($ 66,5 billion) and France ($ 63.8 billion). Germany ranks 8th ($ 49.5 billion) and has increased spending by 1.8% over the previous year.
By contrast, Russia's defense spending, which ranked sixth with $ 61.4 billion, registered a decline. For the first time since 2006, Russia is no longer among the five countries with the highest military spending worldwide.
