A statement from Kotil was not immediately made available by TAI following the 1 May ceremony. However, he retweeted a statement from Erdogan saying, “The future is in the skies because the nations that cannot protect their skies can never be sure of tomorrow”. The often-controversial president has staked out 2023 as a critical year for his strategy of increasing Turkey’s domestic defence capability, describing the country as being on “the brink of a new era” after previously “being deprived” of industrial power. “Today, we have airplanes, UAVs and helicopters making their first flight and starting their engines,” Erdogan says. “We must not leave any work we have started unfinished.”
