Turkey to Develop Cyber-Defense Mechanism - Erdogan

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th June, 2021) Turkey will form a strong cyber-defense mechanism, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.

"Aware of the fact that the main threats arise from the cyberspace in addition to conventional means, we will form a strong cyber defense mechanism," the president said at a ceremony for the TURKSAT 5A Satellite's entry into service, live-streamed on his official Twitter account.

He also said that Turkey is keeping pace with the digital age by way of its strong infrastructure and experience. He underlined that Turkey is resolved to further improve its digital capabilities.

"With TURKSAT 5A, which will have a maneuver and service life of 35 years, we increase our satellite communication capacity, back up our existing satellites and guarantee our orbital rights," Erdogan said.

He underlined that the satellite, which holds the capacity of providing quality services in television broadcasting and data service, will serve a vast geographical reaching from Europe to the middle East and Africa. He also added that Turkey plans to launch the TURKSAT 5B satellite to space in the last quarter of this year.

The TURKSAT 5A satellite was launched into orbit by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on January 8, 2021. Turkey is currently working on TURKSAT 6A in order to launch next year.

Cyber-security has become more significant for Turkey in recent years due to the growing use of internet in state-owned enterprise networks and the private sector. Turkey launched a national action plan for cyber-security in 2013 in order to strengthen critical national infrastructure and secure itself against cyber-attacks.