5 ms·

Nothing inspires confidence like having your son-in-law in charge of crucial military R&D.

mrtksn 5y ago
Normally, that's a recipe for cronyism(like with the other relatives of Erdogan) however in the case on that son-in-law, the situation is not so bleak, at least for Turkey. The guy graduated from Robert College, which is an American established school in Istanbul with a historically exceptional education and high standards to get in. Later he graduated from Istanbul Technical University, which is 250 years old ivy league university, one of the best in Turkey - again high requirements to get in and famous for being hard to graduate. Then he receives scholarship from University of Pensilvania for his masters degree. The next school is MIT(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) where he works on autonomous, aggressive maneuvering of Unmanned Helicopter Systems. His father is an industrialist(Also an Engineer, who studied at METU - the other prestigious University in Turkey, which is founded with help from the USA), the founder of Baykar. After his studies he becomes the CTO of his fathers company, which again raises red flags but under his watch the company actually gets transformed into one of the leading companies in military UAV. Later in 2016, he married Erdogan's daughter. A strategic marriage? Who knows, but that's way after he becomes an accomplished engineer. There are early videos of him workings his ass off as if he is in a SV company. When Turkey fails procure foreign made UAVs, Turkey partners with Baykar and the guy actually works on his R&D in the remote parts of the country at the front lines together with the military personel. When Turkey engaged in military actions in the past years, these drones actually proved to be very effective. Numerous Russian-made air defence systems were destroyed, making the headlines for being first. Although I feel uneasy using this word for situation where human beings were killed, there was a constant feed on r/combatfootage of spectacular Bayraktar UAV footage engaging with enemy targets. BTW, I find the guys political positions very repulsive. He tried to help his father in law during the elections and all his statements were hostile and divisive as of those of right wing extremists. Maybe he should focus on the engineering and get over all that Erdogan's son in law thing. Also, I need to point out that he is not in charge of Turkey's drone R&D but CTO of only one of the companies. There are multiple UAV developers, private and state owned companies that has nothing to do with Bayraktar. They do higher end stuff or other kind of drones like kamikaze drones. Turkey enjoys some rather strong technical talent in Ankara, the capital, where some of the best schools in the country are located. Ankara, having comparatively small population to Istanbul(6M vs 15M) doesn't have the best career opportunities as Istanbul makes it a hot stpot for hiring for the defence industry. Unfortunately, due to the political situation in Turkey, a lot of talent is fleeing abroad. Last year it made it to the news when the Dutch ASML hired from the Turkish defence industry en mass.
- deleted 5y ago
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- mclightning 5y ago
  I dislike Erdogan more than the next guy, but I wouldn't mind this son in law taking more power among them. But I would imagine, he stays away from politics...which is a smart move actually.

Normally, that's a recipe for cronyism(like with the other relatives of Erdogan) however in the case on that son-in-law, the situation is not so bleak, at least for Turkey. The guy graduated from Robert College, which is an American established school in Istanbul with a historically exceptional education and high standards to get in. Later he graduated from Istanbul Technical University, which is 250 years old ivy league university, one of the best in Turkey - again high requirements to get in and famous for being hard to graduate. Then he receives scholarship from University of Pensilvania for his masters degree. The next school is MIT(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) where he works on autonomous, aggressive maneuvering of Unmanned Helicopter Systems. His father is an industrialist(Also an Engineer, who studied at METU - the other prestigious University in Turkey, which is founded with help from the USA), the founder of Baykar. After his studies he becomes the CTO of his fathers company, which again raises red flags but under his watch the company actually gets transformed into one of the leading companies in military UAV. Later in 2016, he married Erdogan's daughter. A strategic marriage? Who knows, but that's way after he becomes an accomplished engineer. There are early videos of him workings his ass off as if he is in a SV company. When Turkey fails procure foreign made UAVs, Turkey partners with Baykar and the guy actually works on his R&D in the remote parts of the country at the front lines together with the military personel. When Turkey engaged in military actions in the past years, these drones actually proved to be very effective. Numerous Russian-made air defence systems were destroyed, making the headlines for being first. Although I feel uneasy using this word for situation where human beings were killed, there was a constant feed on r/combatfootage of spectacular Bayraktar UAV footage engaging with enemy targets. BTW, I find the guys political positions very repulsive. He tried to help his father in law during the elections and all his statements were hostile and divisive as of those of right wing extremists. Maybe he should focus on the engineering and get over all that Erdogan's son in law thing. Also, I need to point out that he is not in charge of Turkey's drone R&D but CTO of only one of the companies. There are multiple UAV developers, private and state owned companies that has nothing to do with Bayraktar. They do higher end stuff or other kind of drones like kamikaze drones. Turkey enjoys some rather strong technical talent in Ankara, the capital, where some of the best schools in the country are located. Ankara, having comparatively small population to Istanbul(6M vs 15M) doesn't have the best career opportunities as Istanbul makes it a hot stpot for hiring for the defence industry. Unfortunately, due to the political situation in Turkey, a lot of talent is fleeing abroad. Last year it made it to the news when the Dutch ASML hired from the Turkish defence industry en mass.

deleted 5y ago
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mclightning 5y ago
I dislike Erdogan more than the next guy, but I wouldn't mind this son in law taking more power among them. But I would imagine, he stays away from politics...which is a smart move actually.