Turkey will be the front of the space race: Erdoğan

Turkey will be in the forefront of the space war thanks to its dedicated youth, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, informing that there is a great interest in the government's project of sending a Turkish citizen to space in 2023.

"We will be in the space race, and we will be at the forefront. Maybe the Turkish citizens who we will send to space are with us in this hall today. And we will greet him or her on his or her return from space," Erdoğan said at a meeting with high school students at an award ceremony for the science projects held by the Turkish presidency on June 2.

"We will win this race thanks to you, the Teknofest youth, whose eyes are on space," Erdoğan stated.

Recalling that he already announced that a Turkish citizen will go to space in 2023, the centennial of the Republic of Turkey, Erdoğan said the website launched to receive applications has been viewed 35 million times and 35.000 people have already registered.

"The deadline for applications is June 23. I want to thank everyone who is interested in this mission," he stated.

"If they have their Neil Armstrong, we have our own Ahmets, Ayşes and Fatmas," Erdoğan stated, repeating that the government will continue to invest in the research and development projects and scientific education of the youth.