Dr. Hüseyin Kami BÜYÜKÖZER
A joint intervention proposal was made to England from Türkiye against the terror and massacre acts that the Greek Cypriots started to implement against the Turks. Upon the negative response of the English, Mr. Bülent Ecevit and Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Necmettin Erbakan used their right to be guarantors and, considering the security of the Turks on the island, decided on the Cyprus Peace Operation on July 20, 1974. The second part of the operation; While Mr. Bülent Ecevit was in England for talks, Mr. Erbakan used his initiative and completed the operation with the slogan “Ayşe Goes on Vacation”. The Cyprus Peace Operation; continued between July 20, 1974 and August 18, 1974 and was completed in exactly 4 weeks. The operation resulted in a decisive Turkish victory. However, in February 1975, the USA imposed the most ruthless arms embargo on the Republic of Türkiye. As a result, our military was in a difficult situation.
The General Staff wrote to the Ministry of Industry and Technology stating that they were facing the danger of losing their operational power and that solution measures should be taken. Upon the instructions of my master Mr. Erbakan, as the head of the Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Technology at that time, I requested that the urgently needed military equipment, weapons and materials be exhibited in one place as a result of my meetings with the Force Commanders. After the military exhibitions were provided in Sakarya, I invited our small industrialists who produce parts for the assembly industry to the exhibition. Within a week or two, they promised that 80% of the urgent needs of our military would be produced by the small industrialist patriotic craftsmen of Anatolia and delivered to our army, which brought tears to our eyes and excited our Force Commanders. Many of our small industrialists continued this first relationship with our military. One of them was Baykar. I remember Baba Baykar with mercy here. Today, his children continue to undertake major projects with the flag they carry.
My second memory from Teknofest was the establishment of TUSAŞ. As a result of the embargo imposed on the national defense industry as a result of the Cyprus Peace Operation, Türkiye began to accelerate its work in the field of national defense. TUSAŞ, which was established on June 28, 1973 in order to reduce Türkiye’s external dependency in the defense industry, was one of the pioneers in this step taken. It was a company established by the Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Erbakan with a decree as a joint-stock company in the heavy industry move and a brother of ours who was a professor at the Middle East University was appointed as the general manager. It would carry out Aircraft Projects, Aviation Upgrades and Defense Systems. For this purpose, TUSAŞ officials decided to sign the contract in Türkiye as a result of negotiations with an Italian company for the helicopter that would be produced in Türkiye for the first time. Preparations were made in the Old Parliament building in Ulus, which was allocated for the Heavy Industry Initiative work, and Mr. Demirel, who was Prime Minister at the time, was contacted for the signing and he agreed to come. In 1978, on the day of the signing, the Italian delegation and the Turkish delegation took their places. However, despite all the waiting, Mr. Demirel did not come. Thus, Türkiye was disappointed once again by the American lackeys.
The person who opened Teknofest was Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was raised in the youth section of the NATIONAL VISION Movement, who later served as the mayor of Istanbul, the prime minister and is currently the President.
