By Alperen Aktas
ISTANBUL (AA) – Tesla CEO Elon Musk will “most likely” visit Izmir to attend Türkiye’s largest tech and aviation event TEKNOFEST, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.
“I invited him to Izmir TEKNOFEST. He will most likely come to Izmir TEKNOFEST,” Erdogan told reporters in New York.
"He (Elon Musk) said, 'I've heard good things about Izmir, and I will try to attend Izmir Teknofest.' Our colleagues will also be in touch with them," Erdogan said.
The Izmir edition of TEKNOFEST will take place on Sept. 27-Oct.1.
Erdogan also said that he discussed with Musk both “Tesla's investment in Türkiye and joint steps in space studies.”
“He (Elon Musk) said that he followed Türkiye’s UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) and UCAV (unarmed combat aerial vehicle) and found them successful. He is aware of the achievements of our country in the field of technology in recent years. This will also be a driving force for him to move his investments to Türkiye,” he added.
On Monday, Erdogan met with Musk at the Turkish House on the sidelines of the 78th UN General Assembly session. The Turkish president informed Musk about Türkiye’s “technological breakthroughs as well as the ‘Digital Türkiye’ vision and the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy," Türkiye's Communications Directorate said in a statement.