Türkiye Positions Itself as a Critical Minerals Hub as Europe Reworks Supply Chains

Türkiye is positioning itself as a strategic hub in the global critical minerals supply-chain realignment, as Europe and other major economies seek alternatives to raw-material sources that are both highly concentrated and exposed to geopolitical risk. The shift matters because critical minerals are increasingly treated not as ordinary commodities, but as inputs that underpin industrial security, energy transition, defence systems, battery manufacturing and semiconductor supply chains.

OECD highlights Türkiye’s growing role

At the OECD Critical Minerals Forum in Istanbul, officials pointed to Türkiye’s rising importance in this transformation. Marion Jansen, Director at the OECD Directorate for Trade and Agriculture, described Türkiye as “an important player in critical minerals,” citing its established dominance in borates and its increasing relevance in related areas alongside downstream processing potential.

The forum discussions also reflected a broader global change: policy attention has moved from securing access to raw materials toward managing supply-chain concentration risk. OECD findings presented in Istanbul indicate that export restrictions on critical minerals have increased steadily worldwide. Several materials referenced in the OECD material are now subject to growing trade limitations, reinforcing concerns about global supply insecurity.

Concentration in refining raises urgency

While mining resources are distributed across regions, refining and processing remain heavily concentrated in a small number of countries, particularly China and select Asian economies. In several strategic materials, a single country still dominates processing capacity—creating structural vulnerabilities for Western industrial economies. Against that backdrop, Türkiye’s potential role becomes more consequential as companies look to diversify not only sources of supply but also the pathways through which materials move.

Three factors behind Türkiye’s momentum

Officials outlined three structural advantages shaping Türkiye’s rise.

First: resource potential and geological strength. Türkiye already holds a leading position in borate production, used across applications from agriculture to advanced materials. Exploration activity around rare earth elements in the Eskişehir region has intensified, strengthening expectations of long-term strategic value. Turkish policymakers increasingly frame critical minerals as a pillar of national industrial strategy rather than only mining assets.

Second: geographic positioning. Türkiye’s location between multiple regions gives it logistical leverage. OECD officials said this positioning can enable Türkiye to function as a natural transit and redistribution hub for diversified mineral supply chains—an increasingly valuable role as firms aim to reduce geopolitical risk and shorten routes by routing supplies through more resilient corridors.

Third: an industrial expansion strategy. Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told the forum that having resources alone is no longer sufficient. The statement underscored a policy shift toward integrating extraction with processing and higher-value industrial production. The underlying logic is that competition is moving beyond deposit ownership toward control over refining, alloy production, precursor manufacturing and industrial processing capacity.

A shift from mining access to full supply-chain control

The OECD forum emphasized how quickly critical minerals policy has evolved into an integrated geopolitical and industrial strategy rather than a narrow mining agenda. Participants—including ministers, industrial leaders, investors and policy institutions—focused on themes such as supply-chain resilience, trade security frameworks, investment and financing models, circular economy integration and strategic industrial partnerships. The discussions reflected a growing consensus that secure supply chains depend on integrated industrial ecosystems rather than isolated extraction efforts.

Why Europe is watching

For the European Union, Türkiye’s expanding role could become increasingly important as the bloc accelerates its green transition while also building defence production capacity and pursuing industrial decarbonization. The challenge is structural: demand for critical minerals is rising faster than efforts to diversify supply can keep pace. OECD data cited at the forum points to a significant increase in export restrictions over roughly the past 15 years while global supply chains remain concentrated—pressuring Europe to reconsider procurement strategies and expand partnerships with countries that are either geopolitically aligned or geographically proximate. Türkiye fits into that procurement calculus given its combination of resource relevance, location-based logistics potential and stated plans for value-chain upgrading.

From extraction to midstream processing—and beyond

The article’s core message is that Türkiye’s ambitions extend beyond extraction alone. It is increasingly positioning itself as a regional processing and industrial hub linking mineral extraction with processing and refining capabilities, manufacturing ecosystems and logistics infrastructure tied to strategic trade corridors. This direction aligns with broader restructuring trends in global industry—where value concentrates more strongly in midstream and downstream stages rather than solely at the point of raw material ownership.

Ultimately, control over critical minerals such as copper, nickel and rare earths—and over the ability to integrate extraction with processing and manufacturing—can shape competitiveness across battery production for electric mobility; semiconductor and electronics manufacturing; defence technologies; artificial intelligence infrastructure; renewable energy systems; and grid expansion. In this next phase of global industrial competition, countries able to build unified resource-to-industry ecosystems are positioned to benefit most from shifting procurement priorities.