March 7, 2018
The BTK Career Days, organized by the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK), was held at the BTK central campus. The event, moderated by BTK President Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, was attended by ASELSAN General Manager Dr. Faik Eken, TAI General Manager Assoc. Prof. Dr. Temel Kotil, and HAVELSAN General Manager Ahmet Hamdi Atalay.
Expressing his pleasure at hosting managers who would serve as examples for young people planning their careers and building their futures at BTK, Sayan stated that their greatest wish is for the youth to be inspired by the success and career stories of these valuable managers, to take their places in such positions in the future, and to engage in works beneficial to our country and humanity.
BEING STRONG IS ONLY POSSIBLE BY BEING DOMESTIC AND NATIONAL
Emphasizing that the defense industry is an area that is developing day by day as national securities of countries are threatened today, Sayan said, “The defense industry, where advanced technologies based on R&D and innovation are intensively used, forms the foundation of economic development. Our country is aware of the need to be strong in order to live in this geography, ensure its security, and have a say in the world, and is advancing decisively toward this goal. Being strong in the defense industry is only possible by being domestic and national. Our country is located in a highly strategic position geographically. Being technologically strong in the defense industry will contribute to the welfare and peace of both us and our surroundings.”
WE CAN REACH 2023 TARGETS WITH A DOMESTIC AND NATIONAL APPROACH
Reminding that Turkey's industrialization efforts were blocked for many reasons, preventing it from having an original defense industry, and that interventions were made from inside and outside to initiatives in the defense industry field, Sayan said, “The late Necmettin Erbakan summarized this process clearly by saying: 'The issue was Turkey wanting to produce engines instead of peaches.' Our President said: 'Unless we cut our own navel, even a screw given to us can turn into a tool of pressure or blackmail when the time comes. We will not buy any product, software, or system that can be designed, produced, or developed in our country from outside, except in emergencies,' emphasizing the importance of the domestic and national efforts outlined with the 2023 targets.”
WE HAVE BECOME A SELF-SUFFICIENT COUNTRY IN THE DEFENSE INDUSTRY
Stating with pride that when looking at Turkey's defense industry past, it has covered a very important distance today, Sayan continued: “While our defense industry was 80% dependent on imports in 2002, today we have reached the position of a country producing its national tank, helicopter, unmanned aerial vehicle, and warship with a localization rate exceeding 60%. We have become a self-sufficient country in the defense industry. Moreover, we have companies in this field that have a say at the international level and are increasing their competitiveness day by day. Thank God, today we own numerous systems that are designed and produced by us and that we have started to use actively. If we need to mention a few, we can list armed and unarmed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs/UCAVs), the nationally designed training aircraft Hürkuş, T129 Atak Helicopter, T-155 Fırtına Howitzer, national combat aircraft, GÖKTÜRK National Reconnaissance Satellite, our first high-resolution ground observation satellite GÖKTÜRK-2, and our first national base station ULAK.”
CYBER SECURITY IS AN INDISPENSABLE PART OF NATIONAL SECURITY
Noting that cyber security, which is as important as the defense industry for our country's security, has emerged as a new force branch in national defense after land, sea, air, and space, Sayan said, “Cyber security has now become an important and indispensable part of national security. If we imagine the cyber environment as a chain, each component is a link in the chain. We are the pieces that form this link. And remember, cyber security is only as strong as its weakest link. We must be hard targets in the field of cyber security! While BTK fulfills its regulatory duties on one hand, it continues its activities to ensure national cyber security with increasing momentum on the other hand, as per the duties and responsibilities assigned to it.”
WE USE DOMESTIC, NATIONAL SOLUTIONS FOR OUR CYBER SECURITY
Explaining that they use software developed entirely with domestic, national, and institutional resources to detect cyber attacks and vulnerabilities and to transmit the detections to relevant institutions, Sayan said, “Among these, we can mention infrastructures such as AVCI, AZAD, and KASIRGA, which operate in a distributed architecture and utilize machine learning and big data analytics capabilities. Again, the SIP (SOME Communication Platform) infrastructure, which enables the secure and fast sharing of cyber threats, vulnerabilities, and attacks between USOM and SOMEs, is also among our self-developed projects. In this scope, in 2017, we made over 1,500 cyber security notifications to institutions and organizations. We detected and blocked over 8,000 connections (URL, IP, domain) related to malicious software and phishing attacks at the infrastructure level. In particular, we detected and neutralized over 80 command and control servers related to malicious software targeting mobile phones.”
Sayan concluded his speech by congratulating everyone who contributed to the event and wishing it to be productive.
ADVICE TO STUDENTS FROM GIANTS OF THE DEFENSE INDUSTRY
ASELSAN General Manager Dr. Faik Eken, who spoke at the event, said that he has been working at ASELSAN for 32 years and that the company is conducting nearly 200 projects with around 5,500 personnel. Emphasizing that making mistakes is the most important learning factor, Eken advised the youth not to fear trying and making mistakes. Showing "perseverance, working determinedly, and patience" as the most important elements in shaping his career, Eken addressed the youth: "When planning your career, do not look at the size of the company or the salary it offers, but whether there is a set of values, merit, and justice in the company. ASELSAN is a company that has all these. If there were no merit, someone like me who has worked for 32 years could not become the general manager."
TAI General Manager Assoc. Prof. Dr. Temel Kotil also provided information about projects carried out by TAI such as the basic training aircraft HÜRKUŞ, ATAK, T-70 helicopters, T-625 original helicopter, ATAK-2, ANKA unmanned aircraft, etc. Emphasizing that they accepted these projects because they trust the country's human resources, Kotil stated that there are currently over 2,000 engineers working in the company and that they need to increase this number to 10,000 in 10 years. Kotil said, "We need to hire about a thousand people each year. Last year, 450 engineers joined our staff. This year, we have completed 200, and we will hire nearly 500 engineers by year-end." Drawing attention to the problems they experience in integrating and starting to work the newly hired personnel into the system, Kotil said that they reduced this process, which lasts 24 months, to 4 months with the intern engineering application.
HAVELSAN General Manager Ahmet Hamdi Atalay also said that he advanced in his career steps thanks to the "jobs he actually did" in his 35-year professional life. Describing himself as still a student and continuing to learn, Atalay said, "To succeed, you need to work hard and stand out with the work you do. Leaning on uncles or relatives may bring momentary success, but long-term successes can only be achieved by standing on one's own feet with one's own hands." Stating that as a company, they prefer the growth of the business ecosystem they have established instead of organic growth, Atalay emphasized that despite this, they have approximately 150 open positions and have difficulty filling them. Atalay said, "We have difficulty benefiting from fresh graduates. We want to use the people we hire immediately in projects, but we have trouble finding people who are experts in their fields. For inexperienced people whom we will train ourselves, we inevitably set some barriers. If you train yourselves, there is sufficient job potential."
At the BTK Career Days, the human resources directors of ASELSAN, TAI, and HAVELSAN also introduced their institutions and shared career opportunities with the participants.
The BTK Career Days provided students not only with detailed information on career planning, creating a roadmap for the future, internship and employment opportunities, but also the opportunity to get to know the leaders of the defense industry up close.