Turkish minister highlights need for national tech following Lebanon pager blasts

MARDİN

Türkiye's Industry and Technology Minister, Mehmet Fatih Kacır, has underscored the critical need for advancing national technology, following a mass explosion of pagers in Lebanon, an incident that the Lebanese government attributes to Israel.

"It appears that Israel has detonated explosives simultaneously in thousands of devices in Lebanon," Kacır stated.

"This incident has once again demonstrated how vital our national technology drive is."

Kacır emphasized that Türkiye must intensify its focus on local production across various sectors—not just defense, but also communications, finance, health, and agriculture.

"Developing and producing critical technologies with our own domestic resources is not a choice, but an absolute necessity," he asserted.

Highlighting Türkiye's advancements in defense technology, Kacır noted the significant shift from importing 80% of its defense needs to producing 80% domestically.

He also emphasized the importance of continuous research and innovation to propel the country's technological and industrial growth further.

The explosion on Tuesday in Beirut and its surrounding areas resulted in 12 fatalities and hundreds of injuries, as wireless communication devices, commonly known as pagers, exploded. The Lebanese government has accused Israel of orchestrating the attack.