Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacir said, “We will send Turkiye’s first national communication satellite, TURKSAT 6A, into space in the week of July 8, 2024.”
At the student meeting held at Erzurum Technical University (ETU) with Turkiye’s first astronaut Alper Gezeravci, Minister Kacir stated that the students, who are very important to them, are the subjects and owners of the national technology move.
Explaining that Turkiye’s greatest strength and greatest force multiplier is its young, dynamic and hard-working population, Kacir said: “The median age of our population is 33, Europe’s is 43. We are 10 years younger than Europe and 15 years younger than some European countries. This is very important and valuable because innovative technologies are changing and transforming the world, and innovative technologies, technology teams, technology teams and technological initiatives established by young people are being launched all over the world.”
“Whatever we do under the leadership of our President in the name of the national technology move, we always put Turkish youth and the TEKNOFEST generation at its heart and center. With this understanding, we have been organizing the world’s largest technological festivals with Turkish youth for 5 years,” said Kacir, noting that 20 thousand young people participated in 14 competitions in the first TEKNOFEST in 2018.
Reminding that they organized TEKNOFEST in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir in 2023, on the 100th anniversary of the Republic, Minister Kacir continued as follows:
“1 million young people participated in 44 technology competitions. This is a unique wave in the world, a social mobilization, and Turkish youth have shown the whole world in the last 20 years what great success they can achieve when their paths are opened and obstacles are removed. They showed it most in the defense industry and aviation. We were not one of the aviation countries of the 20th century. When I came here, ETU Rector Bulent Cakmak said that they were accepting students for the first time this year in the aviation and space technology sciences department. I felt great pride and pride in this. I believe that the students in the department will do what suits them and achieve works that will go down in history.”
“We will be one of the 11 countries that can develop their own satellites.”
Kacir said that whatever the country needs, they will develop it with the country’s own children, with the sweat of their brow, and that they will increase similar success stories in all fields of technology and space sciences, as in the defense industry and aviation.
Explaining that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan established the Turkish Space Agency and announced the national space program to the world in 2021, Kacir completed his speech as follows:
“Turkiye has gained experience in satellite development step by step in the last 20 years. 20 years ago, we participated in the joint production of the BILSAT imaging satellite. Later, we produced the RASAT imaging satellite domestically, then we sent GOKTURK, and finally IMECE, which we developed and produced domestically and nationally, with all its critical components, including its electro-optic camera, which allows us to take sub-meter resolution images from approximately 600 kilometers, into space in 2023, on the 100th anniversary of the Republic. We will send Turkiye’s first national communications satellite, TURKSAT 6A, into space on the week of July 8, 2024, and thus, we will be one of the 11 countries in the world that can develop their own communications satellites. We aspire to be at the forefront of the race in every field. The average age of the workers who enable us to realize all these projects is 25, 26, 27. Therefore, we hope to run this race with you.”
After the speeches, Gezeravci answered the students’ questions about aviation and space and took photos with them.
Erzurum Governor Mustafa Ciftci, Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mehmet Sekmen, AK Party Provincial Chairman Ibrahim Kucukoglu, ETU Rector Prof. Dr. Bulent Cakmak, institution directors, academicians and students attended the program.
Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacir made some visits in Erzurum
Kacir, who came to the city to participate in various programs with Turkiye’s first astronaut Alper Gezeravci, visited Governor Mustafa Ciftci in his office and signed the Governor’s Book of Honor.
Kacir received information about the work in the city from Ciftci, with whom he met for a while.
Kacir, who later went to Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality, met with the Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mehmet Sekmen for a while.
Kacir also visited the Erzurum Chamber of Commerce and Industry, then visited the tradesmen and listened to the demands and problems of the citizens.
Minister Kacir went to the places he visited with his own Togg vehicle.
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz