13.06.2026
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan unveiled the country's “2026–2030 Türkiye Artificial Intelligence Vision and Action Plan” at the Türkiye Artificial Intelligence Summit held at the historic Tersane-i Amire shipyard in Istanbul. Describing artificial intelligence as a turning point, Erdoğan emphasized that digital capacity has become a critical multiplier of military and political power.
Prepared under the coordination of the Ministry of Industry and Technology within the framework of Türkiye’s “National Technology Initiative” (Milli Teknoloji Hamlesi), the new action plan positions artificial intelligence not merely as a technological tool, but as a matter of economic and strategic independence.
Türkiye, which ranked 44th in the Global AI Index in 2021, rose to 34th place by 2024, marking significant progress. The country's new objective is to rank among the world's top 20 AI ecosystems and the top 10 global economies.
Five Strategic Pillars of Digital Sovereignty
The action plan announced by President Erdoğan is built on five key pillars:
- Qualified Human Capital – Expanding the pool of domestic experts, engineers, and entrepreneurs.
- High-Performance Computing Infrastructure – Increasing technological capacity and computing power to process Big Data.
- Data Ecosystem and Data Sovereignty – Ensuring secure and nationally controlled data processing in line with cybersecurity standards.
- Sectoral Applications – Completing AI integration across critical sectors, including healthcare, finance, education, and defense industries.
- Governance Mechanisms – Establishing strong institutional frameworks that unite public and private stakeholders around common goals.
“Turkish large language model” for cultural and technological sovereignty
One of the most important elements of the new roadmap is ensuring strong representation of the Turkish language in the AI ecosystem.
The development of a “Turkish Large Language Model (LLM)” is being treated as a strategic issue within the broader framework of cultural and technological sovereignty. Through AI solutions trained on domestic datasets and tailored to national needs, Türkiye aims to minimize technological dependence on external providers.
Erdoğan: “Digital capacity is a force multiplier”
Addressing participants at the summit held in the historic Tersane-i Amire complex founded by Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, President Erdoğan highlighted the rapid transformation of the global order.
He stated: “Through the wars and conflicts taking place around us, we frequently witness the devastating consequences that even the slightest weakness in data security and cybersecurity can cause. Political, military, and economic power can no longer be considered independently of digital sovereignty. We now all clearly understand that digital capacity is a force multiplier and a deterrent capability. Türkiye is among the few countries that recognized this technological transformation at an early stage and shaped its policies and practices accordingly.”
Targeting a Share of the $20 Trillion AI Economy
International projections estimate that artificial intelligence will generate approximately $20 trillion in additional value for the global economy by 2030.To secure a share of this growing market, Türkiye plans to restructure its incentive systems across sectors and scales. The action plan aims to increase the number of billion-dollar domestic technology companies (Turcorns) and encourage public institutions to procure solutions from local technology ecosystems.
To ensure effective implementation, new institutional structures have already been established. These include the Directorate General of National Technology and Artificial Intelligence under the Ministry of Industry and Technology and the Directorate General of Public Artificial Intelligence under the Presidency.
