Extract from ABC News
Inspired by the war in Ukraine, it took Taras Borovok two hours to come up with the words and compose a catchy melody somewhere between a folk song and television jingle.
Sung over pulsing keys and a playful fiddle, the song's lyrics poke fun at the invading Russian forces — their stupidity, gluttony, and the pointlessness of their mission.
A retired Ukrainian military officer himself, Borovok wanted to create something that would boost morale among troops on the front line, he told a Turkish newspaper in March.
The song, released along with a music video showing Ukrainian soldiers grinning and swaying to the beat in front of destroyed Russian tanks, quickly became a wartime anthem.
"The Kremlin freak is pushing out propaganda, his words are being swallowed by the people, now their tsar knows a new word," the soldiers in the clip sing.
"Bayraktar, Bayraktar!"
Bayraktar is not some Ukrainian folk hero, but the Bayraktar TB2 — an unmanned combat drone developed and manufactured by Turkish company Baykar Technology.
The grey unmanned aerial vehicle carries laser-guided bombs and is light, cheap and supremely deadly.
Especially in the early stages of the war, it was instrumental in changing Russian President Vladimir Putin's fortunes in Ukraine, and it's expected to change the nature of warfare for years to come.
The Turkish drone that changed the game
From the early days of Russia's invasion, the TB2 became an icon of Ukrainian resistance and stood out from the mostly Soviet-built arms and heavy weapons supplied by NATO countries.
It has also turned its designer, Selçuk Bayraktar, who happens to be married to the daughter of Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, into a household name.
"The TB2, at least at the outset of the war, seemed to capture the hearts and minds of the Ukrainians," Dan Gettinger, a Washington-based drone proliferation expert, said.
"That is the way that the TB2 has been used in other conflicts as well: a symbol of the country's technological prowess."
The TB2 has also become a flagship of Türkiye's booming drone industry, which has expanded tenfold in the last two decades.
Previously, drones like the US-made Reaper, worth $US32 million ($46.96 million) each, or Israel's Heron, worth approximately $US18.5 million each, were only within reach of wealthier countries.
But the Bayraktar TB2, with an estimated price tag of only $US2 million, has allowed militaries in Azerbaijan, Ethiopia and Libya to muster significant air power with less humanitarian oversight.
Sleek, remotely piloted, and a fraction of the size and cost of a fighter jet, the TB2 can soar at 5,400 metres, outsmart anti-aircraft systems, and land laser-guided missiles on ground targets with pinpoint accuracy.
To operate one, a pilot must undertake months of professional training with Baykar in Türkiye before they are ready to apply their skills in the real world.
Ukraine and Russia's silent war in the skies
The runaway success of the TB2 has made Türkiye a dealer in a technology that is reshaping the way wars are fought.
There is now a years-long waitlist on orders from dozens of countries.
Nowhere is its power more evident than in Ukraine, where as the war grinds on, both sides have relied on unmanned drones to conduct reconnaissance and launch deadly attacks.
Russia has deployed Iranian-made Shahed-136 "kamikaze" drones — slower, noisier and less sophisticated than the TB2, but still effective in destroying Ukrainian power plants and reigning terror on civilians.
"They're very different drones," Mr Gettinger said.
"The TB2s' benefit on the battlefield is that they have potentially a long time to loiter overhead."
At the same time, "drone diplomacy" has helped provide Türkiye with new leverage on the world stage, allowing it to play broker between the West and an increasingly isolated Russia.
'Türkiye is benefiting in both ways'
Since the beginning of the war, as the West has turned its back on Mr Putin, Mr Erdoğan has taken no clear side.
Unlike many other countries around the world, Türkiye has not imposed sanctions on Russia.
In fact, Erdoğan has strengthened economic ties with Moscow as a stream of Russians have uprooted to Istanbul neighbourhoods.
At the same time, Türkiye, which is a member of NATO, has supplied military aid to Ukraine and refused to recognise Mr Putin's claims over occupied Ukrainian territory.
In Türkiye, Russia sees a tested rival, one it has faced indirectly before in Syria, Libya and the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict in 2020.
It's also a useful mediator.
"Türkiye is benefiting in both ways," said Güney Yıldız, a Türkiye researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
"The country would suffer if Russia wins in Ukraine. Türkiye could also suffer if there is a full defeat of Russian forces.
"If that balance collapses, Türkiye loses."
Türkiye's relationship with Russia is built in part on the personal chemistry between their two leaders, Mr Putin and Mr Erdoğan, who have held a series of meetings and phone calls since February.
In fact, Mr Yıldız points out, Mr Erdoğan meets with Mr Putin more often than he meets with the leaders of other NATO members.
The two governments share, among other things, a natural affinity in strongman leaders and sweeping security regimes.
In Türkiye's narrative, it's the relationship between the two men that underscored a landmark deal struck in July with the UN allowing Ukrainian grain exports to resume.
When Mr Putin suddenly suspended his part in that deal months later, Mr Erdoğan boasted he had personally salvaged the situation.
He claims to have convinced the Russian leader to change his mind and recommit to the deal.
"With me, when I call, straight away he opened the grain corridor," Mr Erdoğan said on a pro-government television channel.
Baykar Technology stands with Ukraine
While the president keeps the lines of communication with the Kremlin wide open, Baykar Technology chief executive Haluk Bayraktar has been clearer about where he stands.
In an interview with CNN in July, Mr Bayraktar ruled out ever supplying Russia with his drones, declaring instead his support for Ukraine's "sovereignty, its resistance and its independence".
Construction is even planned for a new factory for Baykar drones in Ukraine, Mr Bayraktar has said, due to be completed in the next two years.
Nine months on, the Bayraktar TB2 may not play the same decisive role it did for the Ukrainians in the early period of the war, but its legacy is cemented.
And that means Taras Borovok's song still gets regular rotation on Ukrainian radio waves.
In September, Kremlin-linked media reported a Russian professor at a university in Crimea was sacked for playing a YouTube clip of the song on his laptop in an auditorium.
"We regard such musical performances as a betrayal," Oleg Kryuchkov, a Russian official, said at the time.
In the background of a video of the moment shared on social media, students can be heard chiming in with the song's memorable refrain.
"Bayraktar, Bayraktar."
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