Selcuk Bayraktar, chairman of the board of trustees of the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation) and chairman of Baykar, warned Friday that unchecked technological ambition could lead to “a terrible extinction” for humanity, its children and future generations, urging the world to rethink the purpose of technological development.
“We aim to build a fairer, more beautiful and better world that serves the good of humanity along the path we are pursuing together with the TEKNOFEST generation,” Bayraktar said.
The 77th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2026), organized by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), was held at the NEST Congress Center in Antalya, co-hosted by the Turkish Space Agency and SAHA Istanbul under the coordination of the Industry and Technology Ministry. Anadolu Agency is the event’s Global Communication Partner.
A panel titled “The Future Starts Here: Technology, Space and the Next Generation” was held during the congress, featuring Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacir and Bayraktar, with Anadolu CEO Serdar Karagoz serving as moderator.
Speaking at the panel, Bayraktar said 1.6 million students had applied to competitions at TEKNOFEST’s southeastern Türkiye event in Sanliurfa.
He said 55,000 students had applied to space-related competitions at TEKNOFEST to date, compared with 20,000 applicants across all competitions in the festival’s first year.
This year, 10,000 participants applied to the rocket competition, which he described as a key technology for space access, while 796 applied to the vertical-landing rocket competition and 1,190 to the model satellite competition.
“These figures paint a truly hopeful picture for our journey into the skies and beyond, into space,” he said.
Bayraktar said the term “Kizilelma” represents an ideal of civilization and a sacred goal to strive for. He recalled that they had pledged to fly the Bayraktar KIZILELMA unmanned combat aircraft in the centenary year of the Turkish Republic and achieved that goal a year ago.
He said their ambitions had since expanded, pointing to Fergani Space, a venture established to advance Türkiye’s independence and sovereignty in space.
Bayraktar said Fergani was established to develop the Ulugh Beg global positioning system, with funding in part from Baykar, which earns more than 90% of its revenue from high-tech exports. He said the initiative was intended to support independence in space for Türkiye and friendly and brotherly regions.
Bayraktar said Baykar had achieved the fastest transformation in the large-class unmanned aerial vehicle sector over 20 years, becoming the world’s largest manufacturer and a leading global exporter in the field.
He reiterated that more than 90% of Baykar’s revenue comes from exports, saying this success had been made possible by sharing technology with friendly and brotherly countries.
“Our rapid pace of innovation enabled us to develop the most effective solutions on the battlefield. Wherever it has been used, this technology has brought independence. It has also enabled us to advance across different technological fields, including space, using entirely our own resources,” he said.
Bayraktar said the most valuable element in developing technology was people, emphasizing that the purpose for which technology is developed matters more than the technology itself.
He noted that technologies widely believed to be civilian, including smartwatches and mobile phones, could also be used as intelligence-gathering tools.
He said the next generation of technology developers was crucial, adding that this was one of the main reasons behind the establishment of TEKNOFEST.
“Success in unmanned combat aerial vehicles alone is not enough for a country to achieve full independence and prosperity. It must advance alongside all other fields. Developing a single unmanned combat aircraft cannot, on its own, guarantee sovereignty and independence,” he said.
Bayraktar said major monopolies had emerged in existing technologies around the world, arguing that countries should focus not only on current technological competition but also on races that had yet to begin.
"Rather than focusing on today’s race, focusing on races that have yet to begin seems to be a more effective strategy for countries like ours — countries that are only beginning to build their technological ecosystems."
He said countries needed to strive to establish a presence across all technological fields while also developing strategies suited to their own scale and civilizational sphere.
Bayraktar described rapidly advancing high technology as the driving force behind the world’s most significant transformation. He said social media was an extraordinary technology that enabled people to communicate by video and messages with others on the other side of the world.
However, he said humanity had become trapped in a web, with every step people took and even their heart rates being turned into data in the hands of global monopolies.
He argued that these companies could influence what people thought, said and did, adding that artificial intelligence was increasingly doing the thinking for people.
Bayraktar said the global order was pursuing a strategy of “make people addicted, create dependence and leave them without alternatives.”
He said another path remained possible for humanity, emphasizing the need to recognize human dignity and reflect on the consequences of technological progress.
“We can see this in the wars that have recently begun and never seem to end. If we continue at this pace, driven by this ambition, a terrible extinction awaits us all — humanity, our children and future generations,” he said.
Bayraktar recalled that similar concerns had emerged after World War II, when global powers recognized the danger posed by the enormous accumulation of weapons and technological capabilities.
“If we play this game in the same way once again, humanity itself will cease to exist,” he said.
He argued that the international order, rules and institutions established to protect life and maintain global balance had been repeatedly violated and undermined.
Bayraktar said the TEKNOFEST generation, as well as intellectuals and elites involved in the space ecosystem, had an important responsibility.
“In a world where even the killing of babies can be rationalized, no one can truly be innocent, and such a world cannot continue to exist,” he said.
He reiterated that the goal of the path pursued with the TEKNOFEST generation was to build a fairer, better world that serves humanity.
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