- Symposium will also reflect an open discussion of a
bill detailing the establishment of a NASA type national space agency. The Turkish air
force which has been given more responsibility by the Turkish General Staff for designing
Turkey's military space program has set itself a goal of acquiring an ambitious but also
costly space technology.
Lale Sariibrahimoglu
Turkey's long term goal of setting up a NASA-type space agency
became possible when the military-dominated Turkish National Security Council (MGK)
decided at its February 26 meeting to take firm steps toward the establishment of a
National Space Agency. The military has been the driving force in ensuring a decision from
the MGK meeting such an agency.
A space agency was initially proposed in 1997, but failed to
materialize due to a dispute over which government institution would be responsible, under
the new bill it will be affiliated to the Prime Ministry.
The new bill will be among topics to be discussed in depth at a
HKK-initiated two-day symposium in Ankara, to start May 30.
The symposium, named "Space Activities and Turkey's
Potential," will host representatives from some 50 Turkish organizations and
universities as well as from certain parties in the private sector who have experience in
space issues, such as the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK).
Representatives from eight countries, including NATO members, will
discuss such issues as the organizational structure of the national space agency and its
responsibilities, space law, national capabilities in space activities, satellite
communications, as well as the scope of the national space capability to be acquired. The
symposium will be followed by a coordination meeting to be held later, with the
participation of the related institutions, during which the subjects to be discussed will
be finalized.
The MGK decision to establish a national space agency came following
continuing discussions between the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and NASA over future
technical co-operation in space programs.
The bill, which envisages the establishment of a space agency, will
require parliamentary ratification. Under the bill five agencies would be set up and one
would belong to Air Forces Command (HKK).
Turkey seeks to keep in step with other countries in space programs
An increasing number of countries have already made investments in
space activity for military and civilian purposes, Turkey is lagging behind in space
program development. The symposium will be the beginning of Turkey's efforts to catch up.
The White Paper 2000, released by the Turkish National Defence
Ministry (MnD) last year in December, emphasized the HKK's role in the acquisition of
space technology. "The HKK will carry its assault, defence,
reconnaissance/surveillance and early-warning capabilities [in] to space", says the
paper.
Turkey has also been seeking to acquire anti-ballistic missiles, to
provide a deterrent against its mainly southern and southeastern neighbors with ballistic
missiles in their inventories. Entering costly space programs, as well as attempts to
acquire defensive systems against ballistic missiles, would mean delays or cuts to other
air force projects with less priority, in the face of the current financial economic
crisis that the country has been going through.
Air force wins battle
The TSK has given the HKK the responsibility for planning the space
program and procuring related technology. This decision came following long standing
requests to the TSK from the HKK to take the lead in a space program.
Initially the TSK sought a national space agency to be directly
linked to the military, but U.S. high ranking generals from NASA, with which Turkish air
force has been in close coordination on the establishment of a national space agency,
recalled that NASA is under public control with heavy military involvement, with over 80
percent of the program executed by four star generals.
A delegation of senior ranking generals from the HKK will visit the
United States late in June to further their collaboration with NASA officials on the
establishment of a national space agency.
It is also expected that Turkey may open a new tender for the
acquisition of a $250 million military surveillance satellite, dubbed the spy satellite,
after it has set itself a clear set of goals for a space program.
Turkey cancelled a contract for a military surveillance satellite
with France's Alcatel in January, as a result of a French parliamentary resolution
accusing Ottoman Turks of the genocide of Armenians in Eastern Anatolia in 1915. The TSK
also felt that Alcatel's design proposal failed to meet Turkish requirements.
Meanwhile, Astrium, formerly known as Matra Marconi Space, and its
local partner Aselsan, delivered their first master control station (land terminals) worth
about $114 million this year. The land terminals were built for TSK which hired two
transponders from the Turksat 2A commercial satellite launched into orbit following a
fourth delay on January 10.
Ankara - Turkish Daily News
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