ANKARA, Turkey — One of Turkey’s leading armored vehicles producers, the privately-owned BMC, was given land to relocate its plant, a government minister said.

Turkey’s Science, Industry and Technology Minister Fikri Isik said that the government decided to allocate 222-hectares to the company in support of its expansion plans.

BMC will relocate from Izmir on Turkey’s western coast to Sakarya .

Isik said BMC’s new factory will become operational within two years.

He said BMC will invest 1.3 billion liras (approximately $430 million) in its new plant and employ 4,000 personnel.

BMC is owned by businessman Ethem Sancak who has very close ties with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

It will be one of the bidders in a bidding for the serial production of the Altay, Turkey's first indigenous, new-generation battle tank. The program will involve the production of 1,000 tanks with an initial batch of 250.

Sancak said earlier that BMC would bid with partners, which he declined to name. But he hinted that his partners may include foreign manufacturers that "would not object to export licenses and local production."

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The Altay was developed by Otokar, a rival of BMC. The Turkish government commissioned Otokar to build four Altay prototypes under a $500 million program. The tanks are now undergoing field tests.