The Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation ( or MKEK or shortly Makina Kimya), established in 1950, is a reorganization of government-controlled group of factories in Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 that supplied the Turkish Army

Turkish Army

The Turkish Army or Turkish Land Forces is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The modern history of the army began with its formation after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire...

 with supplies, munitions and equipment.

History

Its roots lie in the "Tophane-i Amire" ("Royal Arsenal") built in the latter part of the 15th Century to supply the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

's artillery corps with cannon

Cannon

A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...

, powder

Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...

, and shot

Round shot

Round shot is a solid projectile without explosive charge, fired from a cannon. As the name implies, round shot is spherical; its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the gun it is fired from.Round shot was made in early times from dressed stone, but by the 17th century, from iron...

. This was reorganized in 1832 as the "Tophane Müşavirliği" ("Arsenal of Ordnance and Artillery Marshalship") and was later formed in a department of "Harbiye Nezareti" (Ministry of War) in 1908. After World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and the following "Young Turks

Young Turks

The Young Turks , from French: Les Jeunes Turcs) were a coalition of various groups favouring reformation of the administration of the Ottoman Empire. The movement was against the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Sultan and favoured a re-installation of the short-lived Kanûn-ı Esâsî constitution...

" revolt, it was reorganized as the "General Directorate of Military Factories" in 1923. Today, the MKE is made up of 12 facilities that employ 7,430 personnel.

Products

The corporation mainly produces equipment for the Turkish Armed Forces

Turkish Armed Forces

The Turkish Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. They consist of the Army, the Navy , and the Air Force...

, such as the ammunition

Ammunition

Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...

 for small arms

Small arms

Small arms is a term of art used by armed forces to denote infantry weapons an individual soldier may carry. The description is usually limited to revolvers, pistols, submachine guns, carbines, assault rifles, battle rifles, multiple barrel firearms, sniper rifles, squad automatic weapons, light...

 and heavy weapons, heavy weapons and artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 systems, aerial bomb

Bomb

A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...

s, mine

Land mine

A land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....

s, explosives, and rocket

Rocket

A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...

s. They also manufacture civil-purpose products such as steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

, brass

Brass

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...

, and electrical parts and equipment. Its large range of defense industry

Defense industry

The defense industry, also called the military industry, comprises government and commercial industry involved in research, development, production, and service of military materiel, equipment and facilities...

 products are not only consumed in Turkey, but are exported to more than 40 countries worldwide.

Production groups:

• Ammunition Group
• Rocket Group
• Weapons Group
• Explosives, Propellants, and Pyrotechnic Products Group

Company and factories:

There are 11 factories and 1 company affiliated with MKE centered in three major manufacturing hubs:

Kırıkkale

Kirikkale

Kırıkkale is the capital of the Kırıkkale Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. It is located 80 km east of Ankara. According to the 2000 census, the population of the province is 280,834, of which 192,705 live in the city of Kırıkkale...

• Ammunition Factory
• Brass Factory
• Heavy Weapons Factory And Steel Foundry
• Explosives Factory
• Small-Arms Weapons Factory (Kirikkale Arsenal Co.)

Ankara

Ankara

Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....

• Explosive & Propellant Factory
• Machinery and Gas-Mask Factory
• Pyrotechnics Factory
• Scrap Recycling Plant
• Small-Arms Ammunition Factory

Çankırı

Çankırı

-Agriculture:Various produce like wheat, corn, beans, apple etc. are grown in the farms, and fields that are rich of water.-Industry:Most of the industry is located near the city center and Korgun. Other towns that are in the industrial map of the city are Şabanözü, Çerkeş, Ilgaz, Kurşunlu, and...

• Medium-Caliber Weapons Factory