Turkish Intelligence Report on Rare Earth Elements (REE)

A debate over Rare Earth Elements (REEs) continues between Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan and the main opposition CHP leader Özgür Özel.
The issue entered the domestic political agenda of  Türkiye following Erdoğan’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on September 25, 2025. Özel accuses Erdoğan of “selling off” rich Turkish REE reserves to Trump in exchange for political support to stay in power. He is preparing a bill to ensure that one of the world’s richest REE deposits in Beylikova, Eskişehir, Western Anatolia, is not granted to any foreign country. He also announced that this weekend, on October 26, he will hold a “Freedom for İmamoğlu” rally in Eskişehir for this purpose.

Erdoğan’s Response

In Beylikova, there is currently a “pilot facility” operated by the state enterprise Eti Maden, which is under the control of the Türkiye Wealth Fund (TVF) chaired by Erdoğan. The site has an estimated 694 million tons of reserves containing 10 of the 17 strategically important rare earth elements. With this capacity, it ranks as the world’s second-largest single deposit after Bayan Obo in Inner Mongolia, China.
Erdoğan accuses Özel of “slandering his country,” asserting that there is no question of transferring REE deposits to any foreign country. He insists that what’s being pursued is merely “technological cooperation” with countries that possess REE processing capabilities.

MİT’s REE Report

Erdoğan’s remarks about difficulties in refinery construction and purification technology are valid. According to a report titled “Rare Earth Elements and Türkiye: New Dynamics and Actors in the Geopolitical Chessboard” prepared by the National Intelligence Academy (MIA) under the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), the countries with the most advanced REE technologies are China, Japan, and France.
This report was quietly published on the MİT website in May 2025.
Key points emphasized include:
• Countries with REE industries can also become leaders in the defense industry, AI, and space technologies.
• Actors controlling REE supply can play a decisive role in both conventional and next-generation security projects.
• REEs are becoming a critical element of power, and Türkiye has the potential to become a significant player.
MİT’s work on this issue predates the report’s public release. Concrete steps were already being taken by spring 2024 under the “long-term strategy in coordination with institutions” framework proposed in the report.

First Contact with China

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar signed a cooperation memorandum in Beijing on May 21, 2024, with China’s Natural Resources Minister Wang Guanghua. Shortly after, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his June 3–5 visit to Beijing. It was clear by then that Türkiye’s REE deposits would become a focal point of China–U.S. rivalry.
Indeed, Tom Barrack—appointed by Trump as U.S. Ambassador to Ankara and also serving as Special Envoy for Syria—told the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 1, 2025, that cooperation over REE deposits was among America’s main goals in Türkiye.
This was followed by Trump’s May 1, 2025, U.S.–Ukraine REE agreement, which made continued U.S. support for Ukraine conditional on access to its REE deposits. Half of Ukraine’s REE reserves (40% of which are in the Russian-occupied territories) would now be jointly operated with the U.S. Similar agreements have been signed with Denmark (Greenland) and Australia.
MİT Director İbrahim Kalın’s REE report to Erdoğan preceded these developments—meaning Ankara was not entirely caught off guard.

How Much REE Is in an F-35?

The report provides tangible data for context.
For instance, each F-35 aircraft contains about 410 kg of REEs. Considering the aircraft’s takeoff weight is around 13–15 tons, that may seem small, but much of the F-35’s advanced performance depends on these high-value materials. The same will apply to the ongoing Turkish national fighter jet project KAAN.
Each U.S. Arleigh Burke-class destroyer contains 2.36 tons of REE-based materials—ranging from neodymium magnets used in propulsion to components in missile guidance systems.
Each Virginia-class nuclear submarine contains over 4.17 tons of REEs.
In 2024, the U.S. achieved its goal of producing 1,000 tons of neodymium-iron-boron (NeFeB) “permanent” magnets. But according to the MİT Report, China produced 300,000 tons that same year—300 times more.
China holds 61% of global REE production capacity and 92% of refining capacity.
The U.S. once outsourced its own REE refining to China for cost reasons. Now, 70% of U.S. REE imports come from China.
So, when Chinese President Xi Jinping restricted REE exports in retaliation, Trump was alarmed—dependency in action. The MİT Report clearly illustrates this dependency dynamic.

MİT’s REE Advice

The advice of the Turkish intelligence MİT to Erdoğan can be summarized as follows:
• Türkiye should adopt a “refine–recycle–environment” strategy, not a “dig–sell” one.
• Türkiye has a chance to move from being a raw material owner to a value-added producer.
• Mining, refining, and end-product manufacturing should take place within an integrated, closed-loop domestic ecosystem.
• A strong circular economy should be developed—especially R&D for magnet alloys to reduce technological dependence.
• If Türkiye reaches 570,000 tons per year in refining capacity, it could become a leading actor in its region, including Europe.
Before the roadmap, the report also clarifies why “recycling” and “environmental sustainability” are essential. REEs can accelerate Türkiye’s transition to a green economy, and the roadmap includes interesting details on this.

Proposed Turkish REE Roadmap

1- Basic Infrastructure (2025–2028):
– Reserve verification under UMREK (National Mining Resources and Reserves Reporting Commission), primarily in Beylikova.
– Activation of the pilot facility.
– University–industry R&D consortia for magnet alloy development.
– Annual production target: 1,200 tons.
2- Scaling Up (2028–2032):
– Establishment of integrated refineries with multiple technology licenses.
– Partnerships under international initiatives like the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP).
– Annual ore processing of 500,000 tons and production of at least 2,500 tons of NeFeB magnets.
3- Global Positioning (2032–2035):
– Investment in sintered magnet and electric vehicle motor assembly lines.
– Gradual increase in recycling capacity from electronic waste and scrap magnets.
– Diversification of foreign-funded technology partnerships.
– Raising the value-added multiplier (from ore to final product) by at least 10x. Achieving 25% REE input from secondary (recycled) sources.

REEs Must Be “Native and National”

The publicly released portions of the MİT report also recommend mandatory e-waste collection and tax exemptions (VAT) for importing scrap magnets, encouraging secondary sources and recycling.
The overall picture is clear: REEs are becoming as geopolitically crucial in the 21st century as oil and natural gas were in the 20th.
A new “Great Game” is now being played over REE resources. The National Intelligence Academy’s report shows that Türkiye is not entirely unprepared. Combined with strong opposition scrutiny, it underscores Erdoğan’s need to keep Türkiye’s REE resources under national control amid U.S.–China rivalry.
Türkiye, which missed out on oil geopolitics by losing control over Mosul to Iraq, then under British mandate, in the wake of the First World War, in 1926, could seize a similar opportunity a century later with REEs in Eskişehir. As Erdoğan put it, sharing the REE rights with any other country “should not even be up for discussion.”