SAHA Istanbul Chairman: Turkey is Becoming a Technology Leader
Defense Aviation and Space Cluster Association (SAHA), a group of 938 companies and 26 universities operating in the defense, aviation, and space technologies sector, held its 5th General Assembly at Istanbul Technical University. Speaking at the event, Haluk Bayraktar, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SAHA Istanbul, stated that Turkey had transformed from a technology consumer country to a technology developer country, and that the country had gained momentum in developing high-tech platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles and jet-powered aircraft. Bayraktar emphasized the importance of taking responsibility to maintain this momentum and to ensure that the past mistakes of entrepreneurs in the early years of the Republic are not repeated. In his speech, Bayraktar also shared the development process of SAHA Istanbul and its contribution to the growth of nationality in the defense industry and aviation. SAHA Istanbul is the largest industrial cluster operating in the defense and aviation sectors in Europe. Despite decreasing military expenditures, Turkey’s defense and aerospace industry achieved a turnover of 12.2 billion dollars in 2022, and achieved a compound annual growth trend of 9.9% in the last 10 years.
