Kacır, who attended the “German-Turkish Automobile Summit 2025” in Berlin, the capital of Germany, evaluated mobility, technology infrastructure and German-Turkish relations in Turkey.
Pointing out that Germany is Türkiye's most important trading partner in Europe, Kacır said: “In retrospect, membership in the European Union (EU) Customs Union has strengthened relations between Turkey and Germany. We have a very strong base and experience in economic and commercial cooperation based on the partnership between the two countries.” he said.
Stating that the automobile industry occupies a privileged place in this relationship, Kacır said that the automobile industry is the locomotive of Turkey's exports with an export of $40 billion this year.
Minister Kacır expressed his pleasure that German automobile manufacturers are supplying from Turkey and said: “The main topic that we discussed with each other at the Turkish-German automobile summit held yesterday is what we can do together in the transformation process of the automobile industry to the new generation.” he said.
“We have demonstrated to the world our high-tech development capabilities in the defense industry.” Kacır pointed out that Türkiye is not only a manufacturing country, but also a country of research and development, innovation and technology.
Kacır said that more than 12,000 innovation-focused companies work in 60 cities and 113 technoparks in Türkiye, adding that Türkiye is a country that invests in new generation mobility technologies.
Minister Kacır said: “Of course, Togg was a concrete example of this. It hit the road successfully. It has become a leader in electric vehicles in our country and has now managed to bring its second model to the road this year. It is our national brand that continues mass production without interruption. A new mobility ecosystem is grouped around this national brand.” he said.
Kacır said that with all these opportunities and capabilities, Türkiye is ready to establish much closer cooperation and partnerships with European brands, especially German brands, in the automotive industry transformation process in the coming period.
“We are striving for a win-win partnership with Germany”
Stating that there are big changes in the automotive industry, Kacır continued as follows:
“Electrification is one of them. Electric vehicles are becoming more and more widespread. Rechargeable hybrid vehicles are becoming more and more widespread. Their market share has exceeded 25 percent in Europe and it is expected that this market share will continue to increase in the coming period. Turkey is also experiencing a very rapid increase in the market share of these vehicles. It is very valuable for us to cooperate in this area and jointly develop new generation technologies in this entire area. In addition, connected vehicles and autonomous vehicles are once again the axes of change in the automotive industry. In all These topics are We are connected to Türkiye’s R&D, innovation and production ecosystem.” “Our goal is to bring Germany's brands and experiences closer together, build partnerships and take measures that will increase the competitiveness of both countries with a win-win approach in the coming period. I hope that the German-Turkish Automotive Summit will help strengthen all these collaborations.”
Evaluating German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen's decision not to invest in Türkiye in 2021, Kacır said: “I suspect that they regret giving up. Because everyone who invested in Türkiye earned a lot and Türkiye brought a lot at the highest level.” he said.
Minister Kacır emphasized that there is still a very positive attitude towards new steps between Germany and Turkey in the coming period and said: “Ultimately, we have to look to the future. There are new opportunities and challenges ahead. Undoubtedly, many existing global brands are also facing challenges in the new generation technology race. The partnership with Turkey will bring benefits to them and Türkiye.” gave his assessment.
Türkiyes Data Center and Artificial Intelligence Guidelines
Regarding Google's plan to invest $2 billion in Turkey as part of the new Google Cloud Region, Kacır said that they support these investments with great pleasure.
Minister Kacır said: “Türkiye has a number of data center and artificial intelligence policies. Our goal is to increase our data center infrastructure, which is currently over 250 megawatts, to 1 gigawatt by 2030, and we want a significant part of the new infrastructure to be built to focus on artificial intelligence. To this end, we have launched calls for investments in data centers and artificial intelligence in our high-technology investment program HIT-30. With With the forecast of support close to $2 billion, this will reach $10 billion.” Our goal is to realize the investment by 2030,” he said.
Kacır said that the companies plan to start these investments in the first half of next year.
digital investments
Drawing attention to the importance of Türkiye's data remaining in Türkiye, Kacır shared the following details:
“We want data to be processed in Türkiye and add value, both to bring strategic infrastructures to our country and to strengthen security in the data economy and the digital economy. Every investment will strengthen us in this area. According to the leadership of our President “In the Industrial and Technology Strategy 2030, we have given a very large place to digital investments in particular.”
“Let’s seize new opportunities together”
Minister Kacır also commented on the assessments that EU countries have lost the digital sector to US and Chinese companies as follows:
“We also follow that there is such an approach in the EU's self-criticism. In particular, in the areas of innovative technology and disruptive technology, which have recently experienced a boom, American and Chinese companies are ahead of European companies. Again, if you look at technology companies that have reached a value of 100 billion dollars or more, you can see that there are not many examples from Europe. Of course, the EU can learn lessons from this. Yes, the EU is a political and economic union, but it is not easy to say that it is is.” and still become a fully digital union. This also applies to customs union member states like us.” “With this understanding, we attach great importance to the modernization of the Customs Union. The world is changing very quickly. Globalization is no longer as popular as it used to be. All of this brings new challenges, new threats, but also new opportunities. Our call to our European friends: let us seize new opportunities together.”
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