AA photo.
Türkiye plans to allocate 53 billion Turkish Liras to industrial zone and estate projects in 2027, Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır said on Nov. 2, outlining investment and technology targets during budget talks.
Presenting his ministry’s 2027 budget to parliament’s Planning and Budget Commission, Kacır said 13 organized industrial zone projects and four industrial estate projects due for completion this year were expected to create 30,000 jobs.
The government’s Industrial Areas Master Plan aims to expand designated industrial land to 350,000 hectares by 2030.
It envisages development corridors linking Samsun to Mersin, Sivas to Iğdır, Mersin to Şırnak and Trabzon to Şırnak.
Kacır said the manufacturing sector’s value added had risen 9.7 percent over the past year to $259 billion, while research and development spending had reached 1.55 percent of gross domestic product.
On artificial intelligence, he reiterated plans to provide AI literacy training to at least 5 million people in the first two years of the 2026–2030 action plan.
The plan also aims to train 10,000 advanced AI specialists and 100,000 professionals in the application of AI.
A new facility under construction would expand chip production capabilities for uses ranging from identity documents and defense systems to vehicles and household appliances, he added.
Kacır said more than 130,000 Togg vehicles were on the road, including 55,000 added over the past year.
Production of the company’s T6X model is planned for 2027, which he said would help broaden its customer base.
In defense, Kacır said mass production of the Siper-2 long-range air defense system would begin next year as part of the Steel Dome project.
Türkiye’s defense and aerospace exports exceeded $10 billion last year, he said. The sector employs more than 100,000 people across over 4,000 companies and research institutions.
Kacır also outlined plans to launch Türkiye’s first lunar spacecraft in early 2027.
The İMECE-2 and İMECE-3 Earth observation satellites are scheduled for launch in 2027 and 2028, respectively.
The satellites will form part of a constellation designed to capture images of large areas and collect data from the same locations at frequent intervals, he said.
