Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır said, “We will hopefully build the International Space Port. In the coming years, Turkey will be a stakeholder of a spaceport with an international cooperation. Thus, we will be a country that can access space independently. We are already among the top 4 countries in the world in hybrid rocket engine technology. Hopefully, when we realize the ‘Moon Program’, we will be the first country to give this technology a history in space.”
‘Space Journey through the Eyes of a Turk’ program was organized by Karadeniz Technical University (KTU) in Trabzon. Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır and First Turkish Astronaut Alper Gezeravcı, who participated in the program, met with students at Atatürk Cultural Center Hall. Governor Aziz Yıldırım, KTU Rector Prof. Dr. Hamdullah Çuvalcı and Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ahmet Metin Genç also attended the program. Minister Kacır said that Turkey has achieved significant success in the fields of technology and defense.
‘WE ARE 15 YEARS YOUNGER THAN EUROPE
Stating that Turkey’s greatest strength is its young and hardworking population, Minister Kacır said: “We believe in and trust our youth. We believe that Turkey’s greatest strength, its greatest force multiplier is its young and hardworking population. The median age of our population is 33, the median age of Europe is 43, the median age of some European countries such as Germany is 47-48, we are 15 years younger than them; this is very valuable. Because innovative technologies are changing and transforming the whole world, our daily lives and all sectors, and these innovative technologies are brought to the world by the teams established by young people. Turkish youth have proved to the whole world that they are the pioneers of the national technology move. Our success stories in the defense industry, which attract the attention of the world, are written by young people. Today, our national unmanned aerial vehicles are number one in the world. The average age of the teams developing these vehicles is 27-28; can you imagine? At the age of 27, this nation has a youth that has accomplished works that have left their mark on world history. We are a nation that has proven in the sky that when we pave the way for our youth, when we remove the obstacles in front of them, they can accomplish great things. The youth of Turkey, the sons and daughters of the Turkish nation, with the sweat of their brow and the sweat of their minds, when the obstacles in front of them were removed, they put the signature of this nation in the sky with Bayraktar, Anka, Akıncı, Aksungur, Red Apple, Hürkuş, Hürjet, ATAK, Gökbey and finally KAAN. This means that we can succeed. In fact, our country could have achieved these successes much earlier.”
‘WE KNEW SOMETHING CALLED ‘HERON’; IT’S LIKE SAYING ‘KLEENEX’ ON A NAPKIN’
Noting that the airplane factory in Etimesgut was closed in Turkey after the Marshall aid, Kacır said:
“Has anyone heard of Marshall Aid? Marshall aid is the so-called development aid given by western countries to countries like Turkey after the Second World War. These aids, of course, do not come for free. Those who gave these aids said to Turkey, we will give you these aids, we want you to develop, but don’t invest in risky businesses. Don’t get involved in things that you are in over your head, don’t spend your limited resources on things you can’t handle. We will tell you what you can do with these resources and you will invest in those areas. In the end, Marshall Aid came to this country in 1948 and the airplane factory in Etimesgut was closed down in 1949. Now, this is our aviation story, in fact, our entire industrial story is probably like this. When you think about what happened to the Devrim automobile, when you think about what happened to Şakir Zümre and Nuri Killigil, the whole history of Turkey’s industrialization was a history of stories that almost failed. Until the 2000s. In the 2000s, a strong will said that whatever this country needs, whatever our armed forces need in the fight against terrorism, we will develop and produce it with the sweat of our own children’s brow and minds. At the beginning of the 2000s, we did not know the concept of ‘unmanned aerial vehicle’, we knew something called ‘Heron’, like calling a napkin ‘Kleenex’. We thought that Israel was the only country that had unmanned aerial vehicles. We were buying them and trying to fight terrorism with them, but somehow, we were never able to benefit from those drones at the level we wanted at the critical moments of that fight. When national UAVs developed by our own sons and daughters with the human resources of this country came into play, Turkey achieved results in the fight against terrorism. We scraped and expelled terrorism from our lands with our national UCAVs. Thanks to our national UCAVs, we are now tearing up the maps of Kurdistan that are trying to be established beyond our borders.”
‘OUR GOAL IS TO ACHIEVE SIMILAR SUCCESS STORIES IN ALL AREAS OF INDUSTRY AND TECHNOLOGY’
Stating that they want to replicate the success in the defense industry in space science and technologies, Minister Kacır said:
“It means that we can succeed, it means that although we are much further behind, that is, although there are other countries that are much more experienced than us in aviation, that have made much more investments, that have produced tens of thousands of aircraft, airplanes and helicopters for 100 years, when we focus on a paradigm shift in technology, we can outpace them all. We have seen this in the defense industry, we have seen this in aviation. Our desire, our ambition, our goal is to achieve similar success stories in all areas of industry and technology. Because we know that technology opens similar windows of opportunity in every field. As long as we are aware of these opportunities in a timely manner and make preparations for them together. We want to replicate the success in the defense industry in space science and technologies. Turkey is an experienced country in this field, we have made significant progress in this field in the last 20 years. Unfortunately, Turkey missed and lost the 80s and 90s while the computer and internet revolution was taking place all over the world. Finally, in the 2000s, with the programs initiated by our President with the same strong will, Turkey gained national satellite development capabilities. We started with the co-production of the BİLSAT satellite, developed and produced the RASAT imaging satellite domestically and nationally, then developed the GÖKTÜRK satellite domestically and nationally, and finally, in April last year, in the 100th anniversary of our Republic, we sent İMECE, which we developed all critical subsystems, including its sub-meter resolution electro-optical camera, domestically and nationally, into space.”
‘WE WILL SEND TÜRKSAT 6A INTO SPACE IN JULY’
Stating that they will send TÜRKSAT 6A into space in July, Kacır said: “We did not stop and developed our national communication satellite. As you know, we used to procure the previous communication satellites from abroad, but now we have developed and produced our first national communication satellite, TÜRKSAT 6A, domestically. We have completed the production process with a localization rate of over 80 percent. Now, hopefully, we will send TÜRKSAT 6A into space in July; Turkey will be one of the 11 countries that can develop communication satellites domestically. We will not stop again, we will launch new generation satellite projects. We will launch programs to develop low-orbit satellites domestically. With the knowledge we have gained in all these projects, we will have the opportunity to get ahead of the world in hybrid rocket engine technology in the ‘Moon Program’. We are focusing on what our nation will gain in each project.”
‘TURKEY’S DEFENSE AND AVIATION INDUSTRY EXPORTED 5.5 BILLION DOLLARS’
Emphasizing that space is very valuable both strategically and economically, Minister Kacır said: “The global space economy is 600 billion dollars. This is expected to reach 1.5 trillion dollars in 10-12 years. It is predicted that 1.5 trillion dollars will be spent every year on space-related works. We want to get a share of this growing economy. We want to become a country that can export high technology to the world with the capabilities we have acquired, in the field of space, just like in aviation. Twenty years ago, we were exporting only 250 million dollars in total, and our defense and aerospace exports were only 250 million dollars. Last year, we increased this 22 times. Turkey’s defense and aerospace industry exported 5.5 billion dollars. It will increase even more, and we will create a similar success story in space,” he said.
‘WE WILL BE A COUNTRY WITH INDEPENDENT ACCESS TO SPACE’
Stating that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced Turkey’s space goals to the world, Kacır said: “He announced our 10-year national space program to the whole world and set very important and ambitious goals for Turkey. On the one hand, we are developing satellite programs, and on the other hand, we are carrying out rocket programs in order to realize independent access to space. There are very successful rocket teams here; we are proud of them. On the one hand, we will hopefully build the International Space Port. In the coming years, Turkey will become a stakeholder of a spaceport with an international cooperation. Thus, we will become a country with independent access to space. We are already among the top 4 countries in the world in hybrid rocket engine technology. Hopefully, when we realize the ‘Moon Program’, we will be the first country to give this technology a history in space, and this achievement will make it possible for Turkey to develop spacecraft that can perform challenging space missions such as inter-orbital satellite transfers. Thus, we will have the opportunity to gain a share from the space economy in that field as well.”
‘THERE WILL BE 2 TURKISH CITIZENS EXCEEDING THE SPACE LIMIT’
Stating that Tuva Cihangir Atasever is the second Turkish astronaut to go into space after Alper Gezervacı, the first Turkish astronaut, Minister Kacır said: “Another astronaut, Turkey’s second astronaut, is Tuva Cihangir Atasever; he is a very successful young man. He is also Turkey’s number 2 astronaut. Hopefully, very soon, in June, Tuva Cihangir Atasever will realize his space experience with a suborbital research flight. Thus, there will be 2 Turkish citizens who exceeded the space limit of 90 kilometers.”
GEZERAVCI SHARED HIS EXPERIENCES
Turkey’s first astronaut Alper Gezeravcı shared his dreams and experiences with the students, including the process of going to space and what happened before. Gezeravcı thanked everyone for their participation and said, “We are extremely happy to have accomplished a mission that will raise the self-confidence that the children of this country deserve and inspire them by resisting the dust that has been sprinkled on the ever-golden potential of this country for years, and to have completed the scientific experiments put forward by the brilliant people of this country as original studies in the field in this mission that we have realized in the 100-year history of our country.”
‘OUR COUNTRY’S INDUSTRY HAS REACHED A POINT WHERE IT NO LONGER FITS IN ITS SHELL’
Speaking about the Lunar Research Program, Gezeravcı said, “We are planning to deliver a rocket we have built in our own country to the moon with our own system in 2026. In the preparatory processes we have already carried out, most of the work on our rocket that can reach there and our system that will provide an impact in this area has been completed. Our intention is for the rocket, which we have safely removed from the earth’s atmosphere, to make a hard landing and crash at a specific point on the moon that revolves around itself and the earth. With the experience gained from this experience, we intend to have a soft landing on the lunar surface with a ‘rover’ or a scientific unit with a payload on it, and to have rights on the platform of scientific studies that will start in 2026, which is currently planned on the moon, as a milestone for the beginning. At a time when the industry of our country has reached a point where it no longer fits into its shell, we intend to establish different space platforms and space stations that will meet our own needs and meet the needs of other countries that want to work in the field of space.”
‘NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOUR POTENTIAL’
Alper Gezeravcı, who gave advice to young people and answered the questions of the students, said: “For the first time in our history as the Republic of Turkey, 36 thousand citizens from a single country applied to the astronaut selection process we have made. The greatest assurance of our country in all its projects for the future, in all the goals it has set, in all the paths it has taken, is our young age potential. Dear brothers and sisters, please do not think that it will take years to reflect your potential in a concrete field. Even in your current state, you have the potential to produce something, to accomplish something, to reach a goal. Please stay away from the people around you who question your potential, discourage you from doing the work you can do, and try to put a label on your self-confidence. This is the biggest favor you can do for yourself. There is no one who knows your potential better than you. Just stay away from people who will question your potential and people who will bring down your self-confidence. The average age of the Aerospace and Aviation company that sent us into space, carried out that space operation launch and delivered us there safely, completed all our training processes and brought us back safely was 26 years old. Today, the average age of our friends working at Baykar, the company that produces our UAVs and UCAVs, which have revolutionized our defense industry in our own country, is 27.
