How ·¡°ù»å´ÇÄŸ²¹²Ô framed his science and tech ‘great achievements’ as part of election campaign

President Recep Tayyip ·¡°ù»å´ÇÄŸ²¹²Ô has ruled Turkey for the last 21 years. In the first few terms of his rule, Turkey experienced significant economic growth and a reduction in inequality. This was widely believed to be a reason for ·¡°ù»å´ÇÄŸ²¹²Ô’s long-term popularity.

However, inflation hit a  in November 2022, creating speculation that economic instability would count against ·¡°ù»å´ÇÄŸ²¹²Ô in the .

Despite this, in the first round of the election  attracted 49.5% of the vote. Some  that what ·¡°ù»å´ÇÄŸ²¹²Ô calls his “” in science and technology were a significant reason for his continued popularity.

In the weeks before the first round, ·¡°ù»å´ÇÄŸ²¹²Ô made a flurry of announcements about his “great achievements” and upcoming projects. He unveiled plans for Turkey to send its first astronaut to the International Space Station by the end of the year. The  was held to showcase many of these projects to the public. ·¡°ù»å´ÇÄŸ²¹²Ô also showed off Turkey’s new multipurpose  and , capable of taking off from .

·¡°ù»å´ÇÄŸ²¹²Ô clearly hoped that these announcements would boost his popularity, by creating an image of  in science and technology. ·¡°ù»å´ÇÄŸ²¹²Ô’s government also oversaw the country’s , an attempt to make Turkey .  had been invested in the national defence industry as part of a .

Creating Turkey’s own car

Although the car industry has had , it has been dominated by . But the idea of having a national car brand has had a long history. In 1961 the  to develop the first Turkish car, , as a symbol of modern Turkey, but it was not very successful. This desire for a Turkish national car was even made into .

In 2017, ·¡°ù»å´ÇÄŸ²¹²Ô invited  to produce a , a year that marked the 100th anniversary of Turkey’s republic as well as being an election year.

The six business groups and the  formed  (Togg) in 2019, aiming to build the first fully Turkish-made car, which was also going to be an electric vehicle. Togg received the  believed to have been given to any automotive firm in Europe and North America (about £2.8 billion).

Despite the extensive financial support and hype, the Togg car could not be “100% domestic and national” because  to make the key parts. Crucial complex and expensive components, such as the battery, had to be imported.

In the end, only 51% of the Togg car was domestically sourced. This led to a change in the way it was described, rather than a “100% domestic and national” car ·¡°ù»å´ÇÄŸ²¹²Ô began calling it “the car of Türkiye” and claimed the product as a Turkish industrial win.

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For the full article by Dr Merve Sancak visit .

Notes for editors

Press release reference number: PR 23/81

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