Turkey's Erdogan asks Musk to build a Tesla factory

18-09-2023
Rudaw
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk and asked him to build a Tesla factory in Turkey, the country’s communication directorate said on Monday. 

Erdogan received Musk at the Turkish House center in Manhattan, New York, on Sunday and called for Tesla to set up its seventh factory in Turkey. 

The Turkish president stated that “cooperation opportunities with SpaceX may arise within Turkey’s space program,” and invited Musk to attend Teknofest, an aerospace and technology festival that will be held in Izmir later this month.

Turkish Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacir, who also attended the meeting, said in a statement on Musk-owned X platform (formerly known as Twitter), that Musk told Erdogan of his interest to launch the Starlink satellite services in Turkey.

While Musk claims to be a defender of free speech, he gave in to Turkish demands to restrict access to “some content” on Twitter ahead of the Turkish presidential elections in May.

“In response to legal process and to ensure Twitter remains available to the people of Turkey, we have taken action to restrict access to some content in Turkey today,” Twitter Global Government Affairs said at the time without clarifying the nature of the content being blocked.

Musk is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in California on Monday.
 

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