Turkey's National AI Strategy 2026: New Steps in Digital Transformation
Comprehensive analysis of Turkey's national AI strategy, TÜBİTAK projects, university research, and local AI startups.
Turkey's AI Vision
Turkey continues to take significant steps in AI with its National AI Strategy announced in 2021. By 2026, AI integration has accelerated in education, healthcare, agriculture, industry, and public services under the strategy. Efforts coordinated by the Presidential Digital Transformation Office aim to make Turkey a regional AI hub.
TÜBİTAK and Research Projects
AI research at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM has made significant advances in natural language processing, computer vision, and autonomous systems. Work on Turkish language models plays a critical role in developing domestic AI solutions. Additionally, autonomous systems and image processing technologies developed for the defense industry have reached globally competitive levels.
Local AI Startups
The Turkish AI ecosystem is growing rapidly. Dozens of AI startups based in Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir operate across a wide range from health tech to fintech, agritech to e-commerce solutions. Major defense companies like HAVELSAN, ASELSAN, and TAI are also making serious AI investments.
Education and Talent Development
AI departments and graduate programs at universities are rapidly increasing. Universities like ITU, METU, Boğaziçi, and Bilkent lead in AI research. Platforms like BTK Academy, Google Developer Academy, and Microsoft AI School offer free training to expand the talent pool.
AI in Healthcare
AI-assisted diagnostic systems are becoming widespread in Turkish hospitals. Local solutions have been developed for radiological image analysis, early cancer detection, and drug interaction checking. The Ministry of Health's e-Nabız system has also begun offering personalized health recommendations through AI integration.
Legal Framework and Ethics
Regulations on AI systems' data usage have been updated under the Personal Data Protection Law (KVKK). Compliance work with the EU AI Act continues. National ethical guidelines for AI have been prepared and shared with industry stakeholders.
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