Istanbul, April 29, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the Republic of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan have participated in the TEKNOFEST Aerospace and Technology Festival in Istanbul.

President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine Erdogan, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva arrived at the venue of the festival by the Togg car, which is another sign of Türkiye`s technological development.

The festival participants lining up along the road greeted the presidents and first ladies with flowers and prolonged applause.

Then, a photo was taken.

First, Prime Minister of Libya Abdul Hamid Dbeibah addressed the event.

Then, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev made a speech.

Speech by President Ilham Aliyev

- Dear Mr. President, my dear brother Recep Tayyip Erdogan, dear Mrs. Emine Erdogan, dear friends.

I am very happy to be visiting your brotherly country again. I have brought you the sincere greetings on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan. A year ago, the TEKNOFEST Festival was held in Baku, and we participated in TEKNOFEST together with my dear brother. Today I am here. This once again shows that Türkiye and Azerbaijan are always together. Türkiye and Azerbaijan are friendly and brotherly countries.

At the same time, Türkiye and Azerbaijan officially became allies after the signing of the Shusha Declaration two years ago. The signing of that historic Declaration in Shusha, the crown jewel of Karabakh, has a special significance. Shusha is a dear city for the Azerbaijani people and a dear city of the entire Turkic world.

As a result of the liberation of Shusha from occupation, Azerbaijan restored its territorial integrity. Türkiye, its President and the brotherly Turkish people were always by our side.

From the very first to the last minutes of the Second Karabakh War, my dear brother President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was with us. His statements and messages expressed unequivocal support for Azerbaijan. He said that Azerbaijan was not alone, that Türkiye was with Azerbaijan, and this gave us additional strength and boosted our morale.

Türkiye has covered a long and glorious road in the last 20 years. Under the leadership of the Honorable President, Türkiye has become a voice in the world and a guarantor of peace, stability and security in our region. Türkiye has played a great role in the unification of the great Turkic world. At the Summit of Turkic states held in Ankara last month, all Turkic states expressed their support, their respect and our common solidarity with my dear brother. The Turkic world has great geography, great potential, great natural resources, and great military power. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made historic contributions to the unification of the Turkic world.

Today, Türkiye is the trade, energy, transport and political center of Eurasia. The importance and the role of Türkiye are growing day by day. Türkiye’s strong industry strengthens both Türkiye itself and its allies. The Turkish army is among the leading armies in the world today.

Türkiye’s defense industry is recognized by the whole world today. The most developed, the most modern, the most advanced defense industry strengthens both Türkiye and us. This will ensure the security of Türkiye for many years to come.

While participating in TEKNOFEST today, I would like to emphasize the contributions of our dear brother Selcuk Bayraktar, the founder of TEKNOFEST. Selcuk bey has visited Azerbaijan many times, including the liberated lands, Shusha. During his last visit, on April 3, when he was in Azerbaijan, we talked about future cooperation and agreed on the establishment of the Bayraktar center in Azerbaijan. Inshallah, the Bayraktar center will be established in Azerbaijan in the near future, and there will be training, maintenance and production there. While in Baku, Mr. Selcuk presented us with a model of Kizilelma as a gift. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all our brothers on Kizilelma, and I do hope that Kizilelma will be in the skies of Azerbaijan in the near future. Kizilelma in the air, Altay and Togg on the ground, Anatolia at sea – this is today's Türkiye.

In a few days, the Azerbaijani people will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev, the founder of the modern Azerbaijan state. Heydar Aliyev said that “Türkiye and Azerbaijan are one nation in two states”. Today we are proving that. The souls of all our fathers and forefathers are happy because Türkiye and Azerbaijan are together. As my father said, “One nation in two states”, and I want to add to that – like “One fist”!

I am visiting the brotherly country for the third time this year. I was here in February, then I was here in March, and I am here again today. My dear brother, you have the floor. We are waiting for you, all the people of Azerbaijan are waiting for you, kissing you, hugging you, conveying their respect and love to you. Türkiye-Azerbaijan union is eternal!

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President Ilham Aliyev and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan laid the foundation stone in an online format for the residential complex consisting of a thousand houses, a school, a mosque and other infrastructure facilities to be built by the Azerbaijani government in Kahramanmaras province where the earthquake occurred.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan thanked President Ilham Aliyev for the houses foundations of which were laid in Kahramanmaras.

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Then, President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented a commemorative banknote made to mark the 100th anniversary of great son of the Turkic world, Great Leader Heydar Aliyev to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

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Speaking at the festival, President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan said:

- Dear President of Azerbaijan, my brother Ilham Aliyev.

Prime Minister of Libya, my brother Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.

Dear residents of Istanbul, ladies and gentlemen, dear participants of TEKNOFEST, dear young people.

I am greeting you with the most sincere feelings of love and affection.

Thank God, this year’s TEKNOFEST in Istanbul is beautiful in a different way. Through you, I send my greetings to all the young hearts in the 81 provinces of our country. I greet all our young people and young brothers from the entire geography with love.

I am very pleased to be with you at the world's number one aviation, space and technology festival TEKNOFEST. Welcome to our Istanbul!

I would like to thank the President of Azerbaijan, my dear brother and friend Ilham Aliyev, for participating together with his wife.

In the same way, I would like to thank my brother Dbeibah, the Prime Minister of Libya.

We are here together with you at the sixth TEKNOFEST festival, whose fame has gone beyond the borders of our country. TEKNOFEST, which we first held in 2018, thankfully, has already become a brand in its field. Last year, we had the joy of conducting TEKNOFEST together with our dear Azerbaijani youth in Baku. From Samsun to Gaziantep, we met with young people from different provinces of our country who are interested in technology, defense industry and science. This year, we are holding our technology festival first in Istanbul and then, Inshallah, in Ankara.

I do hope that TEKNOFEST, which brings together concrete examples of our national technological achievements, will be good for our country, our nation and you, young people. I would like to thank the T3 Foundation, our ministries, and all our partner institutions and organizations, who have given us the opportunity to experience this pride. I sincerely congratulate all our brothers participating in the competition, who have won places, and opened new horizons ahead with their projects and ideas.

Emphasizing that the number of teams applying for participation in TEKNOFEST has been increasing every year, the President of Türkiye said: "We said Bismillah to this festival with 4,333 teams in 2018. This year, 333,000 teams and 1 million participants from 81 provinces and 96 countries have applied for participation. The category of competitions has also increased from 14 to 41 main and 102 subcategories. Along with the increase in the number of participants, the amount of our prizes has also increased. A process that started with awards worth just 4 million liras has now reached 44 million lira. I believe that the level of success of TEKNOFEST, which is a festival of records and pioneers, will increase even more in the coming period.”

Congratulating the T3 Foundation and Baykar company, which have provided people with extensive support in the aftermath of the earthquakes on February 6, Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasized that Baykar had shown again that it is a dear child of this nation with an exemplary position in the face of a “disaster of the century”. The head of the Turkish state expressed his gratitude to the T3 Foundation and TEKNOFEST volunteers who went to the region many times and were by the side of those affected by the earthquake during the difficult days.

Expressing his gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev for the houses the foundations of which were laid in Kahramanmaras, the President of Türkiye said: “I would also like to thank my brother Ilham for the houses we laid the foundations of in Kahramanmaras a little while ago. The state and the people of Azerbaijan have shown what friendship and brotherhood means in this period.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan noted that Türkiye was implementing projects based on high technologies and emphasized: “You have seen the development we have experienced only in recent months. A little while ago, my dear brother Ilham Aliyev also said: Kizilelma has taken off, Togg is on the ground. So Kizilelma, Akinci are in front of us, and the TCG Anadolu vessel has been presented to the Navy.”

Noting that nearly 100,000 citizens had visited the TCG Anadolu ship so far, the President of Türkiye announced the start of operation of natural gas fields in the Black Sea. He evaluated the commissioning of the national fighter jet, the Gokbey helicopter, the Hurjet and ATAK-2 fighters, and the Altay tank as Türkiye’s great successes in recent years, adding that TEKNOFEST was a symbol of all these achievements.

Noting that Türkiye had achieved tremendous success in the field of space in recent years, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasized the importance of sending the IMECE satellite into space and wished Turkish pilots Alper Gezeravci and Tuva Cihangir Atasever, who will leave for the International Space Station, the best of luck.

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The speeches were followed by a ceremony to award the winners of a competition held as part of the TEKNOFEST.

They posed for photographs together with the competition winners.

They also watched manoeuvres of Kizilelma unmanned aircraft in the sky.

Board Chairman of Baykar company Selçuk Bayraktar presented keepsakes to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of Libya Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

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Organized for 6 years and gaining an international dimension in its fifth year, the 2023 edition of TEKNOFEST kicked off on April 27 for a technology-developing Türkiye, with the vision of the National Technology Initiative. Co-organized by the Turkish Technology Team Foundation and the Ministry of Industry and Technology in partnership with about 120 stakeholders, including ministries, public and private sector institutions, academic institutions, and media companies that play a critical role in the national technology ecosystem of the fraternal country, the festival will run until May 1.

TEKNOFEST, which continues to grow and gain strength every year; millions of technology enthusiasts are expected to visit for 5 days, full of technology, science, aviation-flight shows, exhibitions, summits, workshops, technology competitions, award ceremonies, stage shows and events.

TEKNOFEST is an excellent platform where young people's dreams are transformed into projects and projects become initiatives. Having been held at Istanbul Airport for the first time in 2018, TEKNOFEST has become the world’s second largest festival in terms of the number of daily visitors with 550,000 participants and has achieved to be the world’s third largest festival in terms of overall attendees.

If the first edition of TEKNOFEST organized in 2018 brought together 4333 teams and 20,000 participants, this year more than 1 million competitors and more than 333,000 teams are competing in 41 different competitions and 102 subcategories.

On 26–29 May 2022, TEKNOFEST was held in Azerbaijan – for the first time outside Türkiye. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan, first ladies Mehriban Aliyeva and Emine Erdogan, as well as the Nobel Prize Laureate Aziz Sancar attended the opening ceremony of the TEKNOFEST Azerbaijan Aerospace and Technology Festival, which was held for the first time in Baku.

Some 300,000 visitors attended TEKNOFEST Azerbaijan. The festival included three international events and eight technology competitions.