President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the Republic of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan have participated in the TEKNOFEST Aerospace and Technology Festival in Istanbul.

President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine Erdogan, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva arrived at the venue of the festival by the Togg car, which is another sign of Türkiye`s technological development.

The festival participants lining up along the road greeted the presidents and first ladies with flowers and prolonged applause.

Then, a photo was taken.

First, Prime Minister of Libya Abdul Hamid Dbeibah addressed the event.

Then, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev made a speech.

Speech by President Ilham Aliyev

- Dear Mr. President, my dear brother Recep Tayyip Erdogan, dear Mrs. Emine Erdogan, dear friends.

I am very happy to be visiting your brotherly country again. I have brought you the sincere greetings on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan. A year ago, the TEKNOFEST Festival was held in Baku, and we participated in TEKNOFEST together with my dear brother. Today I am here. This once again shows that Türkiye and Azerbaijan are always together. Türkiye and Azerbaijan are friendly and brotherly countries.

At the same time, Türkiye and Azerbaijan officially became allies after the signing of the Shusha Declaration two years ago. The signing of that historic Declaration in Shusha, the crown jewel of Karabakh, has a special significance. Shusha is a dear city for the Azerbaijani people and a dear city of the entire Turkic world.

As a result of the liberation of Shusha from occupation, Azerbaijan restored its territorial integrity. Türkiye, its President and the brotherly Turkish people were always by our side.

From the very first to the last minutes of the Second Karabakh War, my dear brother President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was with us. His statements and messages expressed unequivocal support for Azerbaijan. He said that Azerbaijan was not alone, that Türkiye was with Azerbaijan, and this gave us additional strength and boosted our morale.

Türkiye has covered a long and glorious road in the last 20 years. Under the leadership of the Honorable President, Türkiye has become a voice in the world and a guarantor of peace, stability and security in our region. Türkiye has played a great role in the unification of the great Turkic world. At the Summit of Turkic states held in Ankara last month, all Turkic states expressed their support, their respect and our common solidarity with my dear brother. The Turkic world has great geography, great potential, great natural resources, and great military power. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made historic contributions to the unification of the Turkic world.

Today, Türkiye is the trade, energy, transport and political center of Eurasia. The importance and the role of Türkiye are growing day by day. Türkiye’s strong industry strengthens both Türkiye itself and its allies. The Turkish army is among the leading armies in the world today.

Türkiye’s defense industry is recognized by the whole world today. The most developed, the most modern, the most advanced defense industry strengthens both Türkiye and us. This will ensure the security of Türkiye for many years to come.

While participating in TEKNOFEST today, I would like to emphasize the contributions of our dear brother Selcuk Bayraktar, the founder of TEKNOFEST. Selcuk bey has visited Azerbaijan many times, including the liberated lands, Shusha. During his last visit, on April 3, when he was in Azerbaijan, we talked about future cooperation and agreed on the establishment of the Bayraktar center in Azerbaijan. Inshallah, the Bayraktar center will be established in Azerbaijan in the near future, and there will be training, maintenance and production there. While in Baku, Mr. Selcuk presented us with a model of Kizilelma as a gift. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all our brothers on Kizilelma, and I do hope that Kizilelma will be in the skies of Azerbaijan in the near future. Kizilelma in the air, Altay and Togg on the ground, Anatolia at sea – this is today's Türkiye.

In a few days, the Azerbaijani people will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev, the founder of the modern Azerbaijan state. Heydar Aliyev said that “Türkiye and Azerbaijan are one nation in two states”. Today we are proving that. The souls of all our fathers and forefathers are happy because Türkiye and Azerbaijan are together. As my father said, “One nation in two states”, and I want to add to that – like “One fist”!

I am visiting the brotherly country for the third time this year. I was here in February, then I was here in March, and I am here again today. My dear brother, you have the floor. We are waiting for you, all the people of Azerbaijan are waiting for you, kissing you, hugging you, conveying their respect and love to you. Türkiye-Azerbaijan union is eternal!

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Following the speech of the Azerbaijani leader, President Ilham Aliyev and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan laid the foundation stone in an online format for the residential complex consisting of a thousand houses, a school, a mosque and other infrastructure facilities to be built by the Azerbaijani government in Kahramanmaras province where the earthquake occurred.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan thanked President Ilham Aliyev for the houses foundations of which were laid in Kahramanmaras.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev with a commemorative banknote made to mark the 100th anniversary of great son of the Turkic world, Great Leader Heydar Aliyev.

The Turkish President then made his speech.

The speeches were followed by a ceremony to award the winners of a competition held as part of the TEKNOFEST.

They posed for photographs together with the competition winners.

They also watched manoeuvres of Kizilelma unmanned aircraft in the sky.

Board Chairman of Baykar company Selçuk Bayraktar presented keepsakes to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of Libya Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

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Organized for 6 years and gaining an international dimension in its fifth year, the 2023 edition of TEKNOFEST kicked off on April 27 for a technology-developing Türkiye, with the vision of the National Technology Initiative. Co-organized by the Turkish Technology Team Foundation and the Ministry of Industry and Technology in partnership with about 120 stakeholders, including ministries, public and private sector institutions, academic institutions, and media companies that play a critical role in the national technology ecosystem of the fraternal country, the festival will run until May 1.

TEKNOFEST, which continues to grow and gain strength every year; millions of technology enthusiasts are expected to visit for 5 days, full of technology, science, aviation-flight shows, exhibitions, summits, workshops, technology competitions, award ceremonies, stage shows and events.

TEKNOFEST is an excellent platform where young people's dreams are transformed into projects and projects become initiatives. Having been held at Istanbul Airport for the first time in 2018, TEKNOFEST has become the world’s second largest festival in terms of the number of daily visitors with 550,000 participants and has achieved to be the world’s third largest festival in terms of overall attendees.

If the first edition of TEKNOFEST organized in 2018 brought together 4333 teams and 20,000 participants, this year more than 1 million competitors and more than 333,000 teams are competing in 41 different competitions and 102 subcategories.

On 26–29 May 2022, TEKNOFEST was held in Azerbaijan – for the first time outside Türkiye. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan, first ladies Mehriban Aliyeva and Emine Erdogan, as well as the Nobel Prize Laureate Aziz Sancar attended the opening ceremony of the TEKNOFEST Azerbaijan Aerospace and Technology Festival, which was held for the first time in Baku.

Some 300,000 visitors attended TEKNOFEST Azerbaijan. The festival included three international events and eight technology competitions.