Turkey’s biggest aero event kicks off in Istanbul

Teknofest, Turkey's largest aerospace and technology gathering and the world's second-biggest aviation event, kicked off on Sept. 21 in Istanbul.

The five-day festival, jointly organized by the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3) and the Industry and Technology Ministry, is going to last until Sept. 26 in Istanbul's Atatürk Airport.

The festival will be open between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. to all visitors who have proof of either two COVID-19 vaccinations or a negative PCR test.

Allowing young people to showcase their abilities in technological fields, such as rocketry, robotics and aerospace design, the event is expected to host hundreds of thousands of people this year.

Selçuk Bayraktar, the chairman of the event's organizer, Turkish Technology Team Foundation, said new ideas and new inventions that move the world forward come from start-ups and young people.

"Thus, we must enlarge our start-ups much more and support them," he said.

Today, leading global media outlets speak about Turkish start-ups, he underlined.

Bayraktar added that avoiding being condemned to a world constructed by savage capitalist technology monopolies, Turkey must make its own transformation.

Mustafa Varank, Turkish industry and technology minister, said the interest in the event has been increasing year by year.

Touching on Turkey's cutting-edge defense and technology products showcasing in the event, such as helicopter Gökbey and armed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Aksungur, the minister noted that Turkey should be a production center of the event critical technologies instead of a consumer.

Mentioning flying cars, he said the size of the flying car market will reach $320 billion until 2030.

Varank said just as the...