ŞANLIURFA, Turkey — Turkey’s flagship aerospace, technology, and innovation event, TEKNOFEST, concluded its Southeastern Anatolia edition at Şanlıurfa GAP Airport, drawing an aggregate regional attendance of 1.5 million visitors. Jointly organized by the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation) and the Ministry of Industry and Technology, the five-day festival took place from September 30 to October 4, backed by the institutional support of 157 partner organizations spanning government agencies, universities, research institutions, and defense industry leaders.
Marking another major milestone within Turkey’s National Technology Initiative (Milli Teknoloji Hamlesi), the gathering brought advanced engineering, flight demonstrations, and grassroots scientific competitions to the country’s southeast. In Şanlıurfa alone, 1.3 million participants passed through the festival grounds over the course of the five days, transforming the airport grounds into an open-air showcase where ancient regional heritage met next-generation aeronautics and applied sciences.
Unprecedented Turnout and Historic Competition Figures
Over the course of its nine-year operational history, TEKNOFEST has evolved from a nascent aerospace festival into one of the largest competitive technology events in the world. Having previously organized 14 editions—including 12 domestic events and two held abroad—with a cumulative footfall approaching 12 million people, the Şanlıurfa gathering served as the 15th stop in the organization’s history.
The competitive component of the festival, organized under the banner of the TEKNOFEST Southeastern Anatolia 2026 Technology Competitions, registered record-breaking interest from young innovators. Official figures show that registration applications were submitted from all 81 provinces of Turkey, alongside candidate entries from 99 foreign nations. The competitions encompassed 62 main categories and 145 subcategories, attracting submissions from more than 730,000 teams and over 1.6 million individual participants.
Following rigorous preliminary multi-stage technical reviews and evaluations by specialized academic and industrial committees, the field was narrowed to the highest-performing projects. More than 2,000 finalist teams comprising over 14,000 young competitors advanced to the live stage in Şanlıurfa. Over the course of the five-day event, these finalists presented their hardware prototypes, software solutions, and theoretical architectures directly to sector juries, technical delegations, and the attending public.
To foster these projects and turn technical proposals into functional prototypes, organizers distributed more than 100 million Turkish Liras in material support grants throughout the development cycle. In addition, exceeding 75 million Turkish Liras was allocated in monetary awards to recognize top-ranking teams across the various competitive tracks.
The contests spanned critical and emerging domains, including artificial intelligence, precision agricultural technology, autonomous unmanned systems, financial technologies, and advanced material sciences. The strong focus on agriculture-related innovations drew notable interest from local stakeholders, aligning closely with the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) basin’s position as one of the country’s most vital agricultural centers.
Aviation Displays and National Aerospace Showcase
Beyond the indoor project halls, the outdoor apron and skies above Şanlıurfa GAP Airport hosted aerial demonstrations and static exhibitions showcasing the country’s defense and aerospace platforms. Hundreds of thousands of spectators lined the runways daily to witness flight routines performed by the Turkish Armed Forces’ premier aerobatic teams: the Turkish Stars (Türk Yıldızları) flying supersonic NF-5s, and the solo display team SOLOTÜRK maneuvering the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
The aerial and static displays offered visitors an up-close examination of the platforms central to Turkey’s domestic defense sector. Among the uncrewed and crewed platforms on site were:
- The fifth-generation indigenous fighter jet KAAN
- The carrier-capable unmanned combat aircraft Bayraktar KIZILELMA
- The naval-variant uncrewed combat aerial vehicle Bayraktar TB3
- The combat-proven Bayraktar TB2 and the high-altitude Bayraktar AKINCI
- The advanced jet trainer and light attack aircraft HÜRJET
- The medium-altitude, long-endurance ANKA uncrewed aerial vehicle
- The T129 ATAK attack helicopter and the T625 GÖKBEY multi-role utility helicopter
- Tactical strike and utility aircraft including F-16s, F-4 Phantoms, and T-38 trainers
- Transport and reconnaissance platforms, including the CASA CN-235, AS 532 Cougar, Bell 429, P-72 maritime patrol aircraft, SH-70 Seahawk, AB 412, alongside tactical uncrewed loitering systems like the K2 Kamikaze and Sivrisinek
These static and dynamic displays allowed students, families, and engineering candidates to observe directly the results of domestic aerospace programs that have expanded over the past decade.
Interactive Experiences and Cultural Integration
TEKNOFEST Southeastern Anatolia was structured not merely as an industry exhibition, but as a public science and cultural fair designed to engage visitors of all age groups. Interactive experiential zones were established across the airport apron, allowing children and youth to handle robotic equipment, test aerospace simulation software, participate in basic coding challenges, and tour mobile planetariums. Educational workshops led by technical institutions offered practical introductory courses on electronics, rocketry, and digital design.
In the evenings, following the conclusion of technical evaluations and flight routines, festival authorities hosted stage events and cultural performances. Musical acts by popular artists Semicenk and Ceza were staged directly on the festival grounds, drawing large audiences from Şanlıurfa and neighboring provinces across the Southeastern Anatolia region.
Presidential Address: Championing the ‘TEKNOFEST Generation’
On the fourth day of the festival, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived at Şanlıurfa GAP Airport to inspect the project exhibits and address the gathered competitors. During his official address, the President underscored the strategic role of youth-driven technical initiatives in securing national sovereignty, characterizing the event’s participants as the vanguard of the country’s developmental vision.
Speaking before a stadium-sized audience of students, engineers, and citizens, President Erdoğan praised the determination of the finalists and personally presented trophies and awards to the first-place championship teams across multiple categories.
"The Century of Turkey will carry the footprint, the seal, and the unmistakable stamp of the TEKNOFEST generation," President Erdoğan stated during his address. "The youth gathered here are the pride of this nation and its most cherished asset. They represent the strongest guarantee of a prosperous, respected, and self-reliant Turkey. I extend my congratulations to every single one of our young people who has transformed a dream into reality here at TEKNOFEST. Turkey’s future rests securely in capable hands."
Regional Transformation and Economic Momentum
The festival’s fifth and final day featured a closing ceremony attended by Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz, who focused his remarks on the broader socio-economic and industrial evolution of the Southeastern Anatolia region.
Emphasizing that the region has moved away from past security challenges and into an era defined by economic productivity, Yılmaz pointed to the convergence of advanced engineering and regional industry.
"Today, we stand in a Southeastern Anatolia where the discourse is no longer centered on terrorism, but on modernization, youth development, and enterprise," Yılmaz remarked. "From agricultural engineering and food production networks to advanced defense systems, we see this collective technical knowledge permeating every economic sector. I want to express my gratitude to everyone who contributed to this exceptional atmosphere in Şanlıurfa and shared in this common vision for regional progress."
Selçuk Bayraktar: "The Youth of TEKNOFEST Are the Architects of Full Independence"
Delivering the concluding remarks of the five-day event, Selçuk Bayraktar, Chairman of the TEKNOFEST Board and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the T3 Foundation, highlighted the cultural shift that the festival seeks to instill among Turkey’s emerging engineering workforce. Reflecting on the hospitality of Şanlıurfa and the resolve of the competing teams, Bayraktar framed the event as an ongoing, intergenerational scientific project.
"The human journey of creation, which began yesterday by shaping stones in this ancient geography, continues today through computer code, robotic systems, and artificial intelligence," Bayraktar said. "In defiance of those who claimed that our people lacked the capacity to innovate, we have designed, we have built, and we will continue to build the very best. The youth of TEKNOFEST are those who write history precisely when told that success is impossible. The youth of TEKNOFEST are the architects of Turkey’s fully independent future. Our path is clear, our direction is truth, and our horizon remains KIZILELMA."
With the conclusion of events at Şanlıurfa GAP Airport, the festival finalized its regional tour, solidifying its place in the calendar of Turkey’s National Technology Initiative and setting organizational preparations in motion for future editions.
