{"id":11879,"date":"2025-10-19T13:36:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T12:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/?p=11879"},"modified":"2025-11-26T13:39:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T12:39:16","slug":"turkey-is-not-arming-the-federation-of-bosnia-and-herzegovina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/2025\/10\/19\/turkey-is-not-arming-the-federation-of-bosnia-and-herzegovina\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0Turkey Is Not \u201cArming\u201d the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Original article<\/a>\u00a0(in Bosnian) was published on 16\/10\/2025; Author:\u00a0Elma Muri\u0107<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The portal Pozitivna Srpska published an article about an interview with Bosnia and Herzegovina\u2019s Minister of Defense, Zukan Helez, giving it a misleading headline claiming that \u201cTurkey is sending weapons to the Federation of BiH\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 11, 2025, Pozitivna Srpska published an article<\/a> under the headline and subheadline:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

HORROR! Turkey Is Sending Weapons to the Federation of BiH<\/em>
<\/em>After Kosovo, Turkey arms the Federation of BiH!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The article stated that Minister of Defense Zukan Helez, in a podcast for Vijesti (.ba), discussed \u201ca range of topics, including the arrival of Turkish drones, the development of the domestic defense industry, and political events in the country\u201d. Helez allegedly confirmed that Turkish TB2 drones were already on their way to Bosnia and Herzegovina and would be stationed in Tuzla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article also claimed that Helez \u201crevealed that Bosnia and Herzegovina already has its own drone, which he says is more advanced than the Turkish TB2 model\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The claim that \u201cthe Federation of BiH is receiving powerful weapons\u201d, along with a link to the article, was also shared<\/a> on the portal\u2019s Facebook page. The Facebook post gained over 1.000 interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Did Minister Helez Say About Military Equipment Purchases?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 10, 2025, Bosnia and Herzegovina\u2019s Minister of Defense Zukan Helez<\/a>, appeared in a Vijesti (.ba)<\/a> podcast<\/a> (archived link<\/a>), where he discussed in detail the procurement of new equipment and military technology for the Armed Forces of BiH, the strengthening of the country\u2019s defense capabilities, and progress in NATO integration. He also commented on the political situation in the country and the statements of SNSD leader Milorad Dodik and Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main focus of the interview was state-level procurement of new technologies and aircraft, specifically drones and helicopters from the United States of America and Turkey. Helez said that Bosnia and Herzegovina would receive five helicopters from the U.S., the first two arriving in March of next year, with a sixth helicopter for the Armed Forces of BiH, coming from the same manufacturer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for unmanned aerial vehicles, Helez confirmed that a contract had been signed for the delivery of TB2 drones<\/a> from Turkey, six in total – two TB2 combat drones and \u201cfour smaller reconnaissance drones\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The drones are all signed for, I just had a meeting. The TB2 drones are arriving and will be stationed in Tuzla. Turkish, of course, I mean we signed on PDV, something about PDV and it will all be done.<\/em>
<\/em>And four smaller drones are also on their way. Two large ones, like small planes, they\u2019re massive, they can only on the airports and hangars. We\u2019ve already prepared their facilities. There are smaller reconnaissance drones that are also coming from Turkey and that has all been signed. We\u2019ve also agreed on three UH-1 helicopters from Turkey for firefighting in order to preserve our other ones. (…) We currently have about ten helicopters in total. (…)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Helez also added that \u201cthe three UH-1 helicopters from Turkey\u201d would be used for firefighting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, he spoke about acquiring Kangal anti-drone systems<\/a> and Kirpi II armored vehicles<\/a>, which Turkey had already delivered to Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Everything we procure makes all soldiers happy, some will be in Banja Luka, some elsewhere\u2026 When helicopters were transferred to Banja Luka, such chaos was put on me. People act as if Banja Luka isn\u2019t part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it\u2019s unbelievable how people separate these things… Or when they say you gave, what you gave\u2026 this is Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian, there is no any dilemma. Ignore those rascals who hate this country, that kind of thing is present within all three nationalities. Perhaps among ones more than others, but there are people who consider this country their own. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

During the interview, the journalist asked Helez about Milorad Dodik\u2019s claim that \u201cBosniaks are being armed by Turkey\u201d, referring to reports that Turkey had delivered drones to Kosovo earlier that month, which Dodik commented<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helez said that Dodik \u201ctalks nonsense\u201d and \u201cempty stories about secession\u201d, that \u201cno such thing will ever happen\u201d. He added that Bosnia and Herzegovina\u2019s own drone, \u201cbetter than the TB2\u201d, would soon be presented at a fair in Egypt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There Are No Entity-Level Armed Forces<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is true that Minister Helez sharply criticized Dodik\u2019s separatist rhetoric and commented on divisions within the country. However, contrary to the misleading claims of Pozitivna Srpska<\/a>, Helez never stated that \u201cTurkey is sending weapons to the Federation of BiH.\u201d The drones and other equipment he mentioned are part of state-level procurement and will be operated by the Armed Forces of BiH<\/a>, established on January 1, 2006, following the transfer of defense authority from the entities to the state level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helez himself said<\/a> in April 2025 that the Turkish TB2 drones would be owned by the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and placed under the command of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of BiH<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ministry of Defense regularly publishes updates on cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey, including donations and purchases of equipment such as Bayraktar TB2 drones, Kirpi II armored vehicles, Kangal anti-drone systems, UH-1H helicopters, and training programs for BiH pilots and technical personnel (1<\/a>, 2<\/a>, 3<\/a>, 4<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is therefore clear that all such procurements and donations occur at the state level, not within any entity such as the Federation of BiH or Republika Srpska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The manipulative and inaccurate claims that \u201cTurkey, after Kosovo, is arming the Federation of BiH\u201d, which paraphrase Milorad Dodik\u2019s \u201cquestioning<\/a>\u201d of whether a \u201cTurkish delivery of weapons to Bosniaks in BiH, to be aimed against Serbs and Croats\u201d, is next, were not published for the purpose of informing the public, but rather to provoke fear and hostility.Based on the facts, we rate the claim that Turkey is \u201carming the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina\u201d as disinformation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Original article\u00a0(in Bosnian) was published on 16\/10\/2025; Author:\u00a0Elma Muri\u0107 The portal Pozitivna Srpska published an article about an interview with Bosnia and Herzegovina\u2019s Minister of Defense, Zukan Helez, giving it a misleading headline claiming that \u201cTurkey is sending weapons to the Federation of BiH\u201d. On October 11, 2025, Pozitivna Srpska published an article under the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-checks"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11879"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11881,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11879\/revisions\/11881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}