Selçuk Bayraktar, chairman of Turkish defense contractor Baykar and the son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, paid the highest amount of income tax in the country in 2022 at TL 564.1 million (around $34 million at the time), the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Wednesday, citing data from the Turkish Revenue Administration.
The Turkish Revenue Administration, a government body under the Finance Ministry, released a list of 100 taxpayers across the country that paid the highest amount of income and corporate tax in 2022.
Drones developed by Baykar have been exported to at least 30 countries and have been used in conflicts in Azerbaijan and Libya in addition to Ukraine.
Bayraktar came in ahead of 93-year-old businessman Rahmi Koç, who paid TL 200.7 million in income tax in 2022, when serving as the honorary chairman of the country’s top conglomerate, Koç Holding. The Koç family is one of the wealthiest in Turkey. In 2016, Forbes ranked Koç the 906th richest person in the world with a net worth of $2.6 billion.
Turkish commercial law stipulates that sole proprietorships like Baykar pay income tax, not corporate tax.
Bayraktar also topped the 2021 list of the country’s 100 top taxpayers.
According to Anadolu, Baykar is Turkey’s leading exporter in the defense and aviation sectors. The company earned 86 percent of its revenue in 2022 from exports, which constituted 25 percent of the total exports in defense and aviation systems from Turkey.
Many say the company owes its success to Erdoğan, who personally promotes Baykar drones during his visits to foreign countries, as a result of which agreements worth millions of dollars are signed.
In July Baykar signed an export and cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense for the Bayraktar Akıncı unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV). The deal was the largest defense and aviation export contract in Turkey’s history. The agreement was made during a visit by Erdoğan to Saudi Arabia. No details were given about the value of the deal, but there were reports that it was worth $3.1 billion.
A report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released last month showed that Baykar increased its arms revenue by 94 percent in 2022.
Baykar was one of four Turkish companies listed among the 100 largest arms companies in the world, according to the report. It was ranked 76th and had arms revenue of $1.42 billion in 2022. Its increase in revenue was the largest among all top 100 companies, “as a result of growing sales of Bayraktar TB-2 UAVs, which have been used extensively by Ukraine during the war,” the report said.
Baykar, which ranked at the bottom of the SIPRI list in 2021, had $730 million in revenue in 2021.
Bayraktar has been more politically engaged over the past months, attending anti-Israel rallies and making statements in support of the Palestinian cause, leading to claims that he may enter politics and be Erdoğan’s successor.
He was among the participants of an anti-Israel rally held in İstanbul on the morning of Jan.1 along with other members of Erdoğan’s family.
Bayraktar’s name is also mentioned among the possible mayoral candidates from Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for İstanbul. Erdoğan is aspiring to take back İstanbul and other major cities from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). Turkey will hold local elections on March 31.
Bayraktar is married to Erdoğan’s youngest daughter, Sümeyye.