Vice President Yılmaz spoke at the closing ceremony of TEKNOFEST Southeastern Türkiye, held at Şanlıurfa GAP Airport. Yılmaz described Türkiye’s development of the technologies it needs using its own capabilities as part of its goals of security, prosperity and full independence.
Emphasis on exports and domestic production in the defense industry
Yılmaz said the defense industry had undergone a major transformation over the past quarter-century under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He said Türkiye had developed its own design and production capabilities by overcoming embargoes and restrictions, adding that products that could not be purchased in the past were now being exported to various regions of the world.
Yılmaz said defense and aerospace exports exceeded $10 billion last year and that Türkiye had risen to become the world’s 11th-largest defense and aerospace exporter. Yılmaz expressed the goal of entering the top 10 countries in the near future and noted that the rate of national and domestic procurement, which had been around 20 percent in the past, had risen above 80 percent.
Yılmaz said a strong political will and leadership stood behind this transformation and thanked President Erdoğan for spearheading the transformation in the defense industry.
Technology capacity targeted for expansion into civilian fields
Yılmaz said the technological capabilities gained in the defense industry would be transferred to healthcare, energy, agriculture and other civilian sectors. He said this capacity would increase the economy’s overall added value and that they expected young people to develop new products and innovative ventures.
Yılmaz said the TEKNOFEST generation would play an important role in Türkiye’s technology drive, adding that they expected to see products developed by young people in agriculture, healthcare and other civilian fields, as well as in the defense industry, in the future.
More than 1.6 million competitors took part in TEKNOFEST
Yılmaz announced that more than 1.6 million competitors took part this year in TEKNOFEST, which began with approximately 20,000 competitors in 2018. He said applications from all 81 provinces showed that the goal of producing technology was based on a broad human resources pool, adding that the festival had grown beyond an ordinary event into a major technology movement.
At the 15th festival, held in Şanlıurfa, 427 teams and more than 2,000 competitors took part in the finals of 14 competitions. Innovative applications in agriculture, livestock and food, as well as air, land and sea vehicles, were presented in the experience areas and exhibitions at the festival site.
Young people in southeastern Türkiye join technology production
Yılmaz said the festival contributed to discovering children’s interests and abilities at an early age and to educating the scientists and engineers of the future. He said the event in Şanlıurfa demonstrated the capacity of young people in southeastern Türkiye to make use of opportunities in education, science and production.
Yılmaz said they viewed bringing the region’s young population together with education, science and production as an investment that would accelerate development, adding that they were pursuing the goal of a “Terror-Free Türkiye” with responsibility toward young people’s future. Yılmaz said Turkish, Kurdish and Arab young people were talking about technology, new products and innovative ventures instead of terrorism.
Goal of harnessing the potential of all 81 provinces
Yılmaz said development could not be limited to major cities and that they aimed to harness the potential of all 81 provinces at the highest level, alongside Ankara, Istanbul and İzmir. He said they were determined to increase southeastern Türkiye’s potential in agriculture, industry, tourism and technology.
At the end of his speech, Yılmaz congratulated the young people who took part in the competitions and thanked the teachers, academics, civil society organizations, families and organizing teams that guided and supported them.
Answering journalists' questions after the closing ceremony, Yılmaz said an estimated 1.3 million people had visited the festival grounds, adding that total attendance reached 1.5 million together with events in other southeastern provinces. Drawing attention to Göbeklitepe and the Haleplibahçe Museum, Yılmaz invited people living in all provinces to visit southeastern Türkiye.
Noting that participants over the age of 70 and 80 had not been seen in such numbers at previous TEKNOFEST events, Yılmaz said Türkiye advocates peaceful diplomacy and social justice alongside strong deterrence, and that problems should be resolved through reconciliation rather than war.
