Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır contacted Alper Gezeravcı, the first Turkish astronaut who has been in space for 7 days, at Gökmen Space Aviation Training Center (GUHEM) in Bursa. Making a press statement after the connection, Minister Kacır said, “We are in one of the most beautiful science centers of Turkey, GUHEM, in our beautiful city Bursa. The reason we were here today was to connect with Alper Gezeravcı, who carried out Turkey’s first manned and space science mission. The connection we established with Alper Gezeravcı from here enabled us to meet young people, who are our most important companions in the national technology move in Turkey. Alper Gezeravcı is about to complete the 7th day of his mission at the International Space Station. “As you know, it is being carried out as Turkey’s first astronaut and science mission,” he said.
13 DIFFERENT EXPERIMENTS
Minister Kacır said, “13 different experiments, prepared by Turkish scientists in fields such as genetics, biology and materials science, are being carried out by Alper Gezeravcı at the International Space Station.” We expect it to bring significant gains to the scientific literature. Of course, our first manned space mission will definitely continue in the coming years. Turkey will be taking the significant capability, experience and know-how it already has in satellite development and production to further levels in deep space programs in the coming period. “At the same time, we aim to get an increasing share from the space economy, which currently exceeds 600 billion dollars annually.”
Noting that they consider the development of the space industry in Turkey as one of the priority targets within the framework of the National Space Program, Kacır said, “In this context, we will be building a space technologies development zone in Ankara in the coming period. In this way, we will try to take our human resources to higher levels in terms of both quantity and quality, and to ensure that the private sector takes a stronger role in new projects in this field. Türkiye has achieved tremendous success in the defense industry in the last 22 years. We managed to increase our annual exports from over 250 million dollars to over 5.5 billion dollars, and our capabilities in the aviation industry played a driving role in this entire success story. “We are now starting a new era to bring these capabilities beyond the horizon to the space industry,” he said.
ALPER GEZERAVCI WILL VISIT 81 PROVINCES
Minister Kacır continued his words as follows: “I hope Turkey’s space age has started strongly with these works as we step into the Turkey Century under the leadership of our President. Our goal, our hope, our hope is to be able to continue these missions, which will be a source of inspiration for our youth and children, more strongly in the future, and to contribute to Turkey’s national technology push and its journey to become a country that can develop, produce and export high technology to the world competitively. After completing his 14-day mission, Alper Gezeravcı will first land in the ocean in a region close to the base where the launch took place, and then come to Turkey and hold meetings with Turkish youth and Turkish children in 81 cities. We will continue to achieve our goals in our National Space Program, one by one, and to reach our goals within the framework of the program, from the regional location and timing system to the lunar mission, in the coming period. We will continue to pave the way for our scientists on this journey. We also made a call this week. We announced the calls for TÜBİTAK International Leading Researchers Program and TÜBİTAK International Young Researchers Program. Within the framework of these calls, we aim to bring many scientists to Turkey and to ensure a reverse brain drain, especially from Turkish scientists who went to different countries of the world in the past years and continued their research there. I hope that a significant portion of them will be our scientists who work in the fields of astronomy and space science. Turkey will continue to play a role as an important player at the global level in space technologies, space science and space industry in the near future. Again, in the coming period, we aim to bring to the agenda of our parliament a law study aimed at ensuring that these studies are carried out with a strong infrastructure. I hope this will happen soon. “Turkish Space Agency, which played a leading role in the National Space Program established and carried out by our President with the Presidential Decree in the past years, will also have the opportunity to realize larger long-term projects and employ qualified human resources more strongly in the coming period.”
“WE WILL CONTINUE TO SHARE TECHNOLOGY MOVES WITH OUR NATION”
Thanking all the media members who supported this process, Minister Kacır said, “That night, we witnessed the launch live at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United States of America. But I know that 85 million people along with us witnessed this launch at midnight.” They followed with great excitement and enthusiasm from 1 to 70. You, our members of the media, played a very important role in reflecting all this excitement and enthusiasm to our nation. For the first time, a science mission was socialized at this level in Turkey. For the first time, a scientific activity was at this level. It became the subject of family conversations. For the first time, their parents woke our little children up from their sleep for a scientific activity, so that they could witness this excitement that they will never forget throughout their lives. I hope that we will continue this momentum in the coming period. To keep science and technology at the top of Turkey’s agenda, In order to maintain the claim and ideal of a fully independent Turkey in this difficult geography we live in, let’s continue to share the excitement of realizing Turkey’s national technology move with our nation. Let Turkish young people continue their preparations in the best possible way to be the subjects of this journey, and let us remove the obstacles in front of them one by one by offering them the best education opportunities. “Let’s carry Turkey into the Turkish Century in the second century of our Republic with science and technology,” he said. (IHA)
