Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised to send a Turkish astronaut to the Moon in 2023. But the project is running behind schedule and a recent appointment of a special adviser to the Turkish space agency has sparked concerns. sarcasm from the opposition press.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced it with great fanfare at the start of 2021: in 2023, Turkey will send its first rocket to the moon. But the young Turkish Space Agency (TUA), created in 2018, finds itself under fire from critics.
The opposition press notably seized on the recent appointment, as special adviser to the presidency of the agency, of İlyas Haliloğlu, an active member of the presidential party of the AKP (Islamo-nationalist).
The profile of the character questions his qualifications, explains in particular the secular nationalist opposition daily New Age. Indeed, the adviser for the space agency has a professional diploma in market gardening. New Age ironically :
He will probably study how to grow parsley in space.”
İlyas Haliloğlu became known to the general public in 2013, following his statements regarding the earthquake in the city of Van (east of the country). He had said that it was a divine punishment of the inhabitants for their ingratitude because they do not “do not thank God and our president enough”.
Budget
This appointment is seen as a
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