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Turkey
plans to launch 1st satellite in 2012
Wednesday, October 06, 2010 11:10:32 AM,
Reuters
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Istanbul: Turkey plans to launch its
first intelligence gathering satellite into space in 2012, Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.
The satellite will ease Turkey’s reliance on US intelligence in
its operations against the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK),
which launches attacks on Turkish military targets from bases in
northern Iraq.
“We will launch the Gokturk intelligence satellite in 2012,”
Erdogan told members of his party in comments televised live.
Turkey has used Washington’s intelligence to boost the
effectiveness of its operations against the PKK in mountainous
Iraqi Kurdistan, targeting the PKK’s headquarters and training
facilities in cross-border raids.
Some 40,000 people have died in the conflict since 1984, when the
PKK took up arms to carve out an ethnic homeland in southeastern
Turkey. A current unilateral truce, initiated in August, by the
PKK has recently eased violence.
The Gokturk satellite is being developed by Turkish defense
contractor Aselsan and Finmeccanica’s unit Telespazio.
The satellite, expected to cost around 250 million euros ($344
million), will provide high resolution imagery to trace movement
of objects less than one square meter.
The satellite will also be used to track down narcotics and human
trafficking across Turkish territory.
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