Türkiye to move up to a higher league in science and technology: Erdoğan

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed that Türkiye will further develop in the field of science and technology, thanks to the continued financial and political support of the government, to take its place in a higher league in the coming years.

“A strategic memorandum for the creation of a hyperscale cloud zone has recently been signed. When this project will be activated in 2028-2029, our country will serve as the digital bridge between Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and as a regional data center,” Erdoğan said during TÜBİTAK and TÜBAN science awards ceremony on Dec. 23.

“We are moving up to a higher league where only the best countries are situated,” he suggested.

Erdoğan recalled that the governments under his rule since 2002 provided financial and political support to tens of thousands of scientific projects and will continue to do so in the coming years.

“We are among the nations that contributed to the development of humanity and civilizations,” he said, recalling that Anatolia has been the birthplace of many of worldwide known ancient scientists and researchers.

Even the first universities in the West have copied the educational structures and curriculum of the higher education institutions in the ancient Muslim world, Erdoğan stated, underlining that Muslim scholars have enormously contributed to the development of global knowledge and science.

“We should always recall these but never stick to ourselves to the past. We should move our knowledge and achievements to the future by strengthening and updating them,” he said.

Türkiye’s main principle is to base its future scientific environment based on its national identity but without turning its back to the global achievements, Erdoğan said. “Support is very much needed to this end. We are supporting our academics, researchers in all research and development domains,” he suggested.

The number of tech parks increased from 2 to 113 and more than 60 provinces host one tech park in their boundaries, the president stated, “We have generated very big momentum. Millions of youngsters attended the last tech fest.”

“Our achievements in recent years pledge us more hope and courage to further enrich our scientific efforts,” the president stated.