ŞANLIURFA, Turkey — Turkey’s flagship aerospace, technology, and innovation event, TEKNOFEST, has concluded its Southeastern Anatolia edition at Şanlıurfa GAP Airport, marking another historic milestone in the country’s National Technology Initiative. Jointly organized by the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation) and the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Industry and Technology, and supported by a coalition of 157 partner institutions, the five-day gathering drew an extraordinary turnout, welcoming 1.5 million visitors in total and establishing new benchmarks for public engagement and competitive participation.
Held between September 30 and October 4, the festival transformed the ancient city of Şanlıurfa into the epicenter of Turkey’s technological ambitions. Over the course of the five-day schedule, approximately 1.3 million attendees visited the festival grounds directly at Şanlıurfa GAP Airport to experience interactive exhibits, high-stakes student competitions, and world-class aerial demonstrations. The overarching event framework engaged 1.5 million people, fusing the deep-rooted cultural and historical heritage of Southeastern Anatolia with state-of-the-art technological advancements.
The Şanlıurfa gathering marked the 15th edition of TEKNOFEST since its inception nine years ago. Over that near-decade span, the festival has been held 14 times previously across Turkey and internationally—including two editions hosted abroad—attracting a cumulative total of nearly 12 million visitors. By establishing its 15th regional presence in Şanlıurfa, the organization reinforced its mission to democratize access to science and technology across all regions of Turkey, demonstrating how the drive for domestic technological development has extended far beyond traditional industrial centers.
Record-Breaking Scale in the 2026 Technology Competitions
At the core of TEKNOFEST Southeastern Anatolia were its expansive technology competitions, which registered unprecedented levels of interest from youth across the globe. For the TEKNOFEST Southeastern Anatolia 2026 Technology Competitions, applications were received from all 81 provinces of Turkey, alongside submissions representing 99 foreign countries.
The competition program spanned 62 main categories and 145 distinct subcategories, designed to address contemporary technological challenges and strategic industrial needs. A record-setting total of more than 730,000 teams and over 1.6 million individual competitors registered to take part in the preliminary rounds, representing an all-time high in the history of the event.
Following a rigorous multi-stage technical evaluation process overseen by academic and industry experts, more than 2,000 finalist teams comprising upwards of 14,000 young competitors advanced to the final stage in Şanlıurfa. These finalists pitched their prototypes, research papers, and working models directly to panels of professional judges and visiting members of the public.
To ensure that participating students possessed the resources necessary to bring their designs to fruition, festival organizers distributed more than 100 million Turkish Liras in material and project development support during the competition lifecycle. In addition, more than 75 million Turkish Liras in cash prizes was awarded to the top-performing teams across various age brackets and engineering tracks.
The competitive disciplines reflected Turkey’s broader strategic focus areas. Young innovators presented solutions across fields such as artificial intelligence, agricultural technologies, autonomous and unmanned systems, financial technologies, and advanced material sciences. The agricultural and food technology categories garnered significant attention, with students proposing data-driven farming methods, automated irrigation, and pest monitoring systems specifically tailored to maximize productivity in arid and semi-arid regions such as Southeastern Anatolia.
Domestic Platforms and Flight Teams Command the Skies
Throughout the five-day festival, crowds filling the flight line at Şanlıurfa GAP Airport witnessed extensive aerial performances executed by the Turkish Armed Forces and domestic defense manufacturers. The flight displays served as a primary highlight for hundreds of thousands of spectators each day.
The aerobatic demonstration teams of the Turkish Air Force—the Turkish Stars (Türk Yıldızları) and SOLOTÜRK—performed precision maneuvers in the skies above Şanlıurfa, drawing widespread acclaim from spectators on the ground. The sonic flyovers and tight-formation routines showcased the advanced operational capabilities of Turkey’s military aviators.
Alongside the military aerobatic displays, the event featured a comprehensive assembly of Turkey’s domestically engineered military and civil aviation platforms. Aircraft took to the skies for dynamic flight presentations and were stationed across expansive static display zones, allowing visitors to inspect the hardware at close range.
Among the prominent indigenous platforms featured during the festival were:
- Fighter Aircraft and Advanced Trainers: The fifth-generation national combat aircraft KAAN, the unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) Bayraktar KIZILELMA, and the advanced jet trainer and light attack aircraft HÜRJET.
- Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: The carrier-capable Bayraktar TB3, the medium-altitude long-endurance Bayraktar TB2, the twin-engine Bayraktar AKINCI, and the medium-altitude ANKA system.
- Rotary-Wing Platforms: The T129 ATAK heavy attack helicopter and the T625 GÖKBEY multi-role utility helicopter.
- Operational Aircraft and Helicopters: F-16 and F-4 fighter jets, T-38 trainers, CASA CN-235 transport aircraft, AS 532 Cougar, Bell 429, P-72 maritime patrol aircraft, SH-70 Seahawk naval helicopters, and AB 412 utility helicopters.
- Specialized Autonomous Platforms: The K2 Kamikaze loitering munition system and the Sivrisinek rotary-wing unmanned platform.
The presence of these platforms illustrated the rapid evolution of the Turkish defense and aerospace sector, offering the public an overview of the country’s transition from an importer of foreign systems to a developer of sovereign defense solutions.
Interactive Experience Zones and Broad Public Engagement
Beyond competitive arenas and flight lines, TEKNOFEST Southeastern Anatolia was structured as a multi-disciplinary gathering integrating science, culture, arts, and interactive learning. Organizers established numerous specialized zones across the GAP Airport tarmac to ensure that attendees of all age groups could engage with technological concepts firsthand.
Visitors participated in hands-on workshops, full-motion flight simulators, virtual reality exhibits, and astronomical presentations hosted inside on-site planetarium domes. The educational workshops offered elementary, middle, and high school students an introductory view into basic coding, robotics, aerospace engineering, and scientific problem-solving.
As daytime technological showcases transitioned into the evening, the festival grounds hosted public cultural programs and stage events. Tens of thousands of attendees gathered for evening live concerts featuring popular Turkish musical artists Semicenk and Ceza, providing an energetic community atmosphere that blended contemporary entertainment with the overarching celebration of scientific achievement.
President Erdoğan Presents Honors to Technological Champions
On the fourth day of the festival, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited the Şanlıurfa GAP Airport grounds to review the student projects, observe the aerospace exhibits, and address the assembled crowd.
During his visit, President Erdoğan took part in the formal awards ceremony, personally presenting first-place championship trophies to the teams that triumphed in the marquee divisions of the technology competitions. Addressing an audience of tens of thousands of students, families, and researchers, the President emphasized the critical role of youth-led innovation in securing the nation’s long-term prosperity.
"The Century of Turkey will bear the trace, the seal, and the stamp of the TEKNOFEST generation," President Erdoğan stated in his address. "The young people gathered here are the pride of this nation; they are the apple of this country’s eye. They stand as the strongest testament to a prosperous and prestigious Turkey. I extend my sincere congratulations to each and every one of our young people who transformed the dreams they built into reality here at TEKNOFEST. Turkey’s future is in safe hands."
The President commended the participating students for their dedication to developing domestic alternatives to foreign technologies, reiterating the state’s continued commitment to providing research grants, technical infrastructure, and commercialization avenues for successful competitors.
Vice President Yılmaz Emphasizes Regional Transformation
The concluding day of TEKNOFEST Southeastern Anatolia featured a formal closing ceremony attended by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz. In his remarks, Yılmaz focused on the profound structural transformation taking place across Southeastern Anatolia, detailing how stability and strategic investments have shifted the regional narrative toward innovation and economic dynamism.
"There is now a Southeastern Anatolia where we talk not of terrorism, but of development, youth, and entrepreneurship," Yılmaz stated. "From agriculture and food production to the defense industry, we see this accumulation of knowledge and drive spreading into all economic sectors. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who contributed to this tremendous atmosphere in Şanlıurfa and shared in this common vision."
Yılmaz underscored that hosting large-scale international and national events in cities like Şanlıurfa generates immediate economic benefits for local commerce while inspiring regional youth to pursue technical degrees in STEM disciplines. He pointed out that integrating advanced technologies into local agricultural practices would be vital for sustaining regional competitiveness and safeguarding food security in the decades ahead.
Selçuk Bayraktar: "The TEKNOFEST Youth Is Turkey’s Fully Independent Future"
Speaking during the official closing session, Selçuk Bayraktar, Chairman of the TEKNOFEST Board of Directors and the T3 Foundation, delivered an impassioned address reflecting on the significance of holding the festival in Şanlıurfa. Bayraktar praised the hospitality of the local population and commended the resilience of the young finalists who worked tirelessly to bring their prototypes to the evaluation stages.
"Our journey of production, which began yesterday with stone, continues today with code, robotics, and artificial intelligence," Bayraktar told the audience. "In defiance of those who claimed ‘you cannot do it,’ we did it, we are doing it, and we will do it best! The TEKNOFEST youth is the youth that writes history whenever they are told that something is ‘impossible.’ The TEKNOFEST youth represents Turkey’s fully independent future. Our path is clear, our direction is truth, and our horizon is KIZILELMA."
Bayraktar noted that the fundamental objective of TEKNOFEST is not solely to showcase technological hardware, but to instill self-reliance and intellectual curiosity in younger generations, establishing a societal consensus that domestic talent is fully capable of developing cutting-edge innovations.
A Continuing Blueprint for the National Technology Initiative
The successful conclusion of the five-day gathering in Şanlıurfa reinforces the steady expansion of Turkey’s National Technology Initiative. By generating an attendance figure of 1.5 million and attracting over 1.6 million competition applicants from around the world, TEKNOFEST Southeastern Anatolia demonstrated that public demand for science, aviation, and technological literacy remains robust.
The event closed its gates having established strong collaborative ties between state ministries, academic institutions, defense enterprises, and grassroots student teams. As TEKNOFEST prepares for future editions across Turkey and abroad, the milestones achieved at Şanlıurfa GAP Airport illustrate that the festival’s model of combining competition, industrial exhibition, and community engagement continues to serve as an enduring foundation for Turkey’s long-term technological self-reliance.
