NATO parliamentary delegation visits Turkish drone giant Baykar ahead of next week's Ankara summit

Delegation briefed on company’s defense technology activities, innovative projects during field visit, in runup to July 7-8 summit in Turkish capital

Parliament speakers attending the NATO Parliamentary Summit in Istanbul paid a field visit to the Baykar National Technology Center on Tuesday hosted by Numan Kurtulmus, the Turkish parliament speaker, ahead of next week’s landmark NATO summit in the capital Ankara. Following the summit held at Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace on Monday, Kurtulmus, together with parliament speakers from allied countries and senior parliamentary representatives, visited Baykar Technology’s Ozdemir Bayraktar National Technology Center. During the field visit, guided by Baykar Chairman Selcuk Bayraktar, the delegation was briefed on the company’s activities, work in defense technologies, and innovative projects. Kurtulmus also met with Canan Bayraktar, the widow of the late Ozdemir Bayraktar, a pioneer of Türkiye’s National Technology Initiative and indigenous combat drones, and the mother of Selcuk Bayraktar. The visit comes ahead of the July 7-8 NATO summit in Ankara, which will feature for the first time a defense industry forum as part of the official program.