President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has sparked widespread criticism after claiming that Turkey “could not even produce a sewing needle” 25 years ago, a statement that opposition politicians and critics say overlooks decades of industrial development.
Critics argued that the remark, referring to the period before his Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, distorts history by disregarding the early industrial legacy of modern Turkey, when state-run iron and steel, sugar and textile factories laid the foundations of Turkey’s modern industry.
Erdoğan made the remarks during the inauguration ceremony of Turkish automaker BMC’s new tank and next-generation armored vehicle production facility in Ankara on Tuesday, a day before the country marked the 102nd anniversary of the republic.
“Let me take you back 20 to 25 years. Could we produce a sewing needle in our country back then? I’m not even talking about weapons. But now, thank God, Turkey is producing its own weapons. We couldn’t produce even 20 percent of our defense needs then, but now we’ve reached 80 percent,” he said, drawing comparisons between Turkey’s industrial capacity before and after his party’s rise to power.
The comment drew sharp backlash on social media and from opposition figures, who accused Erdoğan of disregarding the country’s industrial heritage and the achievements of the early republican era. Many quickly pointed out that Turkey has been manufacturing sewing needles since the 1950s. İstanbul-based Atlı Needle and Machinery Company, founded in 1951, produced the country’s first domestically made sewing needles, marking an early milestone in Turkey’s industrial development.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Yankı Bağcıoğlu, a former rear admiral, criticized Erdoğan’s statement, noting that Turkey had been building naval vessels decades before the AKP came to power. The MP stated on X that submarines and patrol boats were produced domestically at Gölcük and Taşkızak shipyards, with local input, from the late 1930s onward.
“The country’s current technological capability is built on decades of effort. … While trying to glorify one era for political purposes, one should not belittle the earlier periods that laid the foundations for today,” he added.
ŞİMDİ YAPILANLARDAN GURUR DUYUYORSAK, GEÇMİŞE DE VEFA ve SAYGI GÖSTERMEK ZORUNDAYIZ‼️
Toplu iğne bile imal edilemezken;
⚔️ 1939’dan itibaren 1’inci grup “Ay sınıfı denizaltılar”
⚔️1974’den itibaren 2’inci grup “Ay sınıfı denizaltılar”
⚔️ 1977’den itibaren “Doğan sınıfı… https://t.co/nkwuVtFPgV pic.twitter.com/O0hkjrw0Gw
— Yankı Bağcıoğlu (@YankiBagcioglu) October 28, 2025
İYİ (Good) Party leader Müsavat Dervişoğlu was also among the first to respond to the president’s claim, saying in a tweet that Turkey’s first sewing needle factory was established 74 years ago, “when the Republic was just 28 years old and the ruling AKP didn’t even exist.”
He added that aircraft factories, sugar factories, textile mills, iron and steel plants, shipyards, paper and cement factories, tobacco factories, power plants, dams, weapons factories and chlorine plants were all established within the first 15 years of the Turkish Republic, a period marked by scarcity and hardship.
“What you failed to achieve in times of abundance, the Republic accomplished in times of scarcity. In other words, we weren’t living in caves before the AKP came to power,” Dervişoğlu said, addressing Erdoğan.
Biri Cumhurbaşkanı Sayın @RTErdogan’a söylesin;
Türkiye'nin ilk toplu iğne fabrikası 1951'de kuruldu.
Yani 74 yıl önce,
Yani Ak Parti yokken,
Yani daha "ÇIKARDIĞINIZ GÖMLEĞİN" kumaşı bile dokunmamışken,
Yani Cumhuriyetimiz henüz 28 yaşındayken kuruldu.Sadece o değil;
Uçak… pic.twitter.com/Z6tvdON3Ym— Müsavat Dervişoğlu (@MDervisogluTR) October 28, 2025
Columnist Çiğdem Toker of the T24 news website wrote that it is impossible for Erdoğan not to know that major industrial plants such as Kardemir, Erdemir and İsdemir — key producers of steel for the automotive, shipbuilding and construction industries — were already decades old, marking their 63rd, 40th and 30th anniversaries, respectively, in 2000, when he claimed Turkey couldn’t produce even a sewing needle. She also noted that Erdoğan himself oversaw the privatization of Erdemir in 2005 during his tenure as prime minister.
Toker interpreted Erdoğan’s remarks, which echoed similar statements he made in 2021, as part of a broader tendency to frame Turkey’s history as if it began with the founding of the AKP in 2001, “overlooking the legacy of the republic, which celebrates its ‘greatest holiday’ — in the words of Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey — on its 102nd anniversary today.”
The controversy comes as Turkey marks the 102nd anniversary of the republic’s founding on October 29, the day in 1923 when the Grand National Assembly officially proclaimed the Republic of Turkey.