President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke at the TEKNOFEST Southeast event held in Şanlıurfa. Evaluating the atmosphere at the event venue through the "perseverance, excitement, and determination of the youth," Erdoğan delivered messages regarding Turkey's future.
In his speech, Erdoğan stated, "Thank God, Turkey's future is in safe hands," adding, "The Century of Turkey will bear the mark of the TEKNOFEST generation. The youth here are the apple of this country's eye."
Erdoğan, who also accompanied a Şanlıurfa folk song during the opening ceremony, noted that the opening of the Şanlıurfa Science Center was held following the event. Erdoğan also touched upon the mining accident in Soma, stating that those who were negligent would be held accountable.
HE RECOUNTED HIS DIALOGUE WITH BAYRAKTAR
In his speech, Erdoğan also recounted his conversation with Selçuk Bayraktar regarding where the event should be held. Stating that Bayraktar asked, "Where should we hold this program?", Erdoğan said he told him, "Şanlıurfa suits this place well."
While explaining this choice, Erdoğan pointed to the historical and cultural importance of Şanlıurfa. Using the phrase "city of prophets" for the city, Erdoğan reminded that Göbeklitepe is also located within the borders of Şanlıurfa.
Sharing figures regarding the event, Erdoğan stated that more than 730 thousand teams and over 1 million 600 thousand contestants from 81 provinces and 97 countries applied to the technology competitions, and the number of visitors approached 1 million.
Stating that new competition categories such as 5G, artificial intelligence, drone monitoring, advanced autonomous systems, combat UAVs, airline optimization, and the fight against addiction were added to TEKNOFEST this year, Erdoğan congratulated the contestants.
Devoting significant space to the defense industry, Erdoğan argued that Turkey has "achieved a complete revolution" in this field. Erdoğan stated that more than 4 thousand 500 companies are working under the coordination of the Presidency of Defense Industries and that the developed products have been included in the inventory of the army and security units.
Addressing the youth, Erdoğan reminded them of domestic and national defense products such as KIZILELMA, KAAN, HÜRJET, ANKA, and Bayraktar TB2, stating that the youth will produce these technologies in the future.
News Source: 12punto
