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Turkish Naval Forces Commander Adm. Ercument Tatlioglu stated that Türkiye is simultaneously building more than 50 warships, 37 for the Turkish Navy and 24 for foreign countries, speaking at the opening of Teknofest Mavi Vatan (Blue Homeland) at the Golcuk Naval Shipyard Command.
"As of today, we are simultaneously building more than 50 warships, 37 for the Turkish Naval Forces and 24 for foreign countries," Tatlioglu said.
The event, held at Golcuk Naval Shipyard Command, is organized primarily by the National Defense Ministry and the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation).
Tatlioglu said Türkiye's geostrategic position, surrounded on three sides by seas, dictates the need for a very powerful navy, and said Türkiye now has one.
"We have built our national frigates. We have built our national landing ship, our national corvettes. We are currently building our national aircraft carrier, our national air defense destroyer, TCG Kocatepe, and our national submarine. We are very good in unmanned aerial vehicles. We fly our TB3 fixed-wing unmanned aircraft off our TCG Anadolu ship, which you can see in the harbor," he said.
Tatlioglu said all of the navy's ships carry vertical takeoff unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
"Similarly, we are also in a very good position in unmanned surface vessels and unmanned underwater vehicles," he said.
"We use unmanned technology very effectively. In addition to building our national platforms, we have developed our national guided missile ATMACA, our national torpedo AKYA, our national air defense missile Hisar, and our national mine MALAMAN, and we use them very effectively," he added.
Tatlioglu recalled that Türkiye conducted an ATMACA guided missile launch last month from a submarine against a surface target 190 kilometers away.
"Turks are a seafaring nation. We founded our Naval Forces in Anatolia, on this soil, in 1081. Before coming to Anatolia, we were also present in the Caspian Sea. This year, in Izmir's Cesme, we are celebrating the 945th anniversary of our Naval Forces, founded in 1081," Tatlioglu said.
He added that the navy is also marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Golcuk Naval Shipyard "with great happiness and pride."
Tatlioglu thanked Selcuk Bayraktar for organizing Teknofest Mavi Vatan, which he said allows the Turkish nation to showcase the strength of its domestic and national platforms, weapons and systems.
He also thanked National Defense Minister Yasar Guler, Youth and Sports Minister Osman Askin Bak, Chief of General Staff Gen. Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, Defense Industry President Haluk Gorgun, force commanders, company representatives and members of the public for attending.
He closed by invoking the words of Ottoman admiral Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha: "Whoever rules the seas, rules the world," wishing the navy a happy 945th anniversary.
Speaking at the same opening ceremony, National Defense Minister Yasar Guler said, "As the Ministry of National Defense, our goal is to elevate the capabilities of our heroic military, including our Naval Forces, to even higher levels."
Guler said the navy today serves as an effective, deterrent and respected force protecting Türkiye's rights and interests in the "Blue Homeland" through its qualified personnel, modern force structure, domestically built ships, submarines, unmanned systems and continuously advancing technological capabilities.
Guler noted that 1.6 million participants applied for this year's Teknofest competitions, calling it clear evidence of the event's role in cultivating the country's technological workforce.
He said the journey that began with the late Ozdemir Bayraktar's dream that "a child should come and touch an airplane" has grown into a movement bringing hundreds of thousands of young people together with science, engineering and technology.
T3 Foundation Chairman and Teknofest Executive Board Chairman Selcuk Bayraktar said Türkiye's "blue homeland," its maritime jurisdiction areas, spans about 462,000 square kilometers, compared with the country's roughly 783,000-square-kilometer land area.
"If our homeland on land is our house, then the 'blue homeland' is the garden where we find peace. Just as we would not give up a single room of our house, we will never give up a single drop of our garden, the 'blue homeland,'" Bayraktar said.
Bayraktar said the Bayraktar TB3, developed with his colleagues at Baykar, "opened a new era in world naval aviation" through its ability to take off from and land on the TCG Anadolu.
He said the struggle in the "blue homeland" is not merely a technological push but "a struggle for justice and independence," criticizing what he described as a moral collapse in today's world in which justice, compassion, and international law are disregarded.
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