President Erdoğan: Türkiye Did Not Fall Behind in the Space Race

Here are the highlights from Erdoğan's speech: Esteemed ministers, esteemed representatives from different countries attending the congress, esteemed space agency heads, ladies and gentlemen, I greet you all with my most heartfelt feelings, respect and affection. I am very pleased to host you in such a comprehensive organization in our beautiful Antalya, the pearl of the Mediterranean. I would like to welcome you, our valued friends, who are visiting Türkiye from 111 countries of the world to the 77th International Astronautical Congress. I hope that this great meeting, hosted by Türkiye for the first time, will be beneficial for our countries, our peoples and the common future of humanity. I wholeheartedly congratulate all our institutions that supported the organization of the congress and contributed to the execution of this important international event. I hope that the events within the scope of the Congress, organized with the theme "The world needs more space", will open the door to new collaborations.

First of all, I would like to draw your attention to one thing. Science and technology are the basis of the progress humanity has made in every field, from communication to security, from economy to transportation, from agriculture to disaster management. The most critical area where progress in science and technology is directly reflected is undoubtedly space. Therefore, gaining more space in space today actually means making humanity's life on earth safer, more prosperous and more sustainable. I believe that the meetings, interviews, presentations and consultations to be held on the occasion of the congress will lead to discussions that enlighten our horizons in this regard. I would like to thank everyone who will contribute to the Congress with their valuable ideas.

"MANY NAMES HAVE LIVED, GROWN UP ON THIS LAND, AND HAVE MADE SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES THAT WE ADMIRE"

Dear friends, as the Turkish nation, we inherit an extraordinarily rich knowledge in astronomy. For centuries, our ancestors followed the movements of the sun and the moon in the vast steppes of the Turkestan geography. They recorded it. They tried to decipher the language of the stars. When we take a look at the history of science, we encounter important traces, especially regarding astronomical observations and calendar knowledge, from the period of the Göktürks who lived in the 6th century. In fact, the expression Göktürk alone is sufficient to show the nature of the strong bond our nation has established with the sky. This interest, whose roots date back 15 centuries, became more institutional after our nation became associated with Islam. Many scholars in our vast civilization basin, stretching from Baghdad to Damascus, from Samarkand to Bukhara, from Maragha to Cordoba, from Cairo to Istanbul, have made unique contributions to astronomy. Our scholars and scientists have lit new lamps to enlighten humanity seeking path and direction in the darkness of the age. Our thinkers and scientists contributed very important works to astronomy, which was called the scientific committee at that time. For example, from Ali Kuşçu, who was the first to calculate and map the phases of the moon, to Seydi Ali Reis, who said in the 16th century that the center of the universe is the center of the earth, many groundbreaking names in this field lived, grew up, trained students in these lands, and made scientific discoveries that we admire even today. Takiyüddin, the father of trigonometry and the first to calculate the distance between the ecliptic and the equator as closely as possible, carried this tradition even further by establishing an observatory in Istanbul in the 16th century. Thousands of our scientists, whose names we cannot list one by one here, later made great efforts to unravel the secrets of the sky. Istanbul Museum of the History of Islamic Science and Technology, which was established with the efforts of our late Professor Doctor Fuat Sezgin, whom we passed away eight years ago, is an important center that sheds light on this rich heritage. I especially recommend our guests who have the opportunity or who happen to be in Istanbul to visit our museum.

"WE NEVER ALLOWED Türkiye TO BE LEFT BEHIND IN THE SPACE RACE"

Dear guests, while we are proud of this rich and deep-rooted heritage we have, on the other hand, we strive to enrich it even further. Since the day we assumed the responsibility of governing Türkiye, we have tried to build strong bridges between the past and the future in every field. Inspired by history, we tried to plan how we can shape today and tomorrow, how we can make our mark, and how we can take the place we deserve in the world of the future. We set our goals. We strengthened our institutions. We invested in our human resources. We mobilized our industry. We supported our universities and research infrastructure. We never allowed Türkiye to fall behind in the space race. Despite the obstacles and difficulties we faced, thank God, we have made significant progress in a short time.

"Türkiye IS ONE OF THE RARE COUNTRIES THAT DESIGN, DEVELOP, PRODUCE, TEST AND OPERATE ITS OWN SATELLITE IN SPACE"

I would like to say with pleasure that today, Türkiye is one of the rare countries that designs, develops, produces, tests and operates its own satellite in space. With İMECE, we have gained an important capability in the field of high-resolution earth observation. We increased our country's earth observation and exploration capacity from space with our Göktürk satellites. We successfully sent Türksat 5A and Türksat 5B into space. In 2024, we launched our first local and national communication satellite, Türksat 6A, into space and put it into service. Türksat 6A also confirmed Türkiye's engineering capability, industrial infrastructure, human resources and self-confidence in space technologies.

Of course, I also underline this here. For us, space is not just about satellites. Space research and human space activities are also among the important elements of our National Space Program. In 2024, we carried out the first human space mission of our Republic by sending Alper Gezeravcı to the International Space Station. Then, we gained new experience in microgravity research with Tuva Cihangir Atasever's suborbital research flight. These were extremely meaningful but not sufficient steps for our country. We are pursuing bigger goals. We strive to take this experience we have gained even higher. Hopefully, Türkiye will successfully accomplish many more missions in manned space studies and send many scientists, engineers and astronauts to space.

"IT IS ALSO A GREAT SOURCE OF PRIDE FOR US THAT OUR MOON SPACE VEHICLE HAS A DOMESTIC RATE OF OVER 80 PERCENT"

One of the most exciting targets of the National Space Program, which we announced in 2021, is the moon. When we announced the program 5 years ago, we set the goal of going to the moon and shared this with our nation. Today, with the steps we have taken, we have transformed our claim, which was subject to condescending criticism from some circles with narrow horizons, shallow vision and limited opinions, into a concrete program. We have completed the production, assembly and integration activities of the Lunar spacecraft that we developed within the scope of our Lunar Research Program. We are now performing our system level environmental testing. It is also a source of great pride for us that our Moon spacecraft, which weighs approximately three and a half tons, has a local production rate of over 80 percent. More importantly, we are transferring the engineering experience we gained in projects such as İMECE and Türksat 6A to our Lunar mission. In other words, we do not start from scratch each time, but carry the knowledge and experience we gained in the previous task to our next goal.

Dear guests, today it is not enough to just produce satellites to exist in space. It is also necessary to be able to access space. For this reason, we have placed the goal of access to space and a spaceport in a special place in our National Space Program. Taking Türkiye's geographical conditions into account, we are laying the foundations of a historical cooperation in the field of space with friendly and brotherly Somalia. We have started the construction work of the spaceport that we will implement in Somalia. We continue our work with determination to implement this strategic project. In addition to improving Türkiye's capacity to access space, we also aim to contribute to the development of the space ecosystem of the African continent.

"IT IS EXTREMELY WRONG TO WEAPON SPACE AND TURN IT INTO A TOOL OF THE ARMS RACE"

Our principle is this. The space race cannot be a struggle between a few countries. It shouldn't be like this. It shouldn't be seen that way. Likewise, space is not a spoil seized by those who go first. In particular, it is extremely wrong to weaponize space and turn it into a tool of the arms race. Moreover, it is dangerous. It poses a clear threat to the common future of humanity. We see that this has become widespread lately and we do not find it correct. As Türkiye, we want more countries to benefit from the opportunities of space. We want more countries to produce science, more young people to have access to space technologies, and more entrepreneurs to participate in the global space economy. It is a fact that space has ceased to be an area that one country can shape alone, regardless of its technological capacity, and has turned into a global area that requires acting together around common goals. We find this important meeting, which brings together experts from all over the world, like the International Astronautical Congress, extremely valuable in terms of shaping our common future together. The future of space will also be shaped by the common will of states, parliaments and international organizations. In this regard, we would like to thank all participants who signed the Antalya Declaration for Peace in Space, and we invite our friends who have not signed yet to take this step.