The Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation ( or MKE for short), established in 1950, is a reorganization of government-controlled group of factories in Turkey that supplied the Turkish Armed Forces with military products.
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's artillery corps with cannon, powder, and shot. 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 and the following Turkish War of Independence, 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.[1][2] The first produced rifle was Mauser Model M1938 (along with 'Enfauser' Lee–Enfield/Mauser hybrids)[3] and the first pistol was Walther PP, both known as 'Kırıkkale'.[4]