A brief analysis why we don't have Elon Musks in Turkey

in elon •  7 years ago  (edited)

As a Turkish born entrepreneur, I have ashamed when I learn the story of Vecihi Hürkuş. He is a Turkish entrepreneur who lived between 1896-1969. He manufactured the first airplane of Turkey in 1923. Yes, you should pay attention to the date, it was 1923, the plane's name was VECIHI-K-VI. The Republic of Turkey is also established in 1923 while the idol of Elon Musk, Howard Hughes didn't start to produce films yet. Howard Hughes, one of the most important figure in aviation history is accepted as the pioneer of aviation. Hughes formed the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1932 and started manufacturing airplanes. At that times, our Turkish hero, Hürkuş applied for the certificate for his plane, however Ministry replied that there is no one in the institution that can evaluate the flying capability of his plane. Because of this reason, he flied his plane without permission and he was punished. While Hürkuş was having troubles with government, Howard Hughes are getting grants from USA government. However, Hürkuş didn't give up, he decided to put his plane in pieces and take it to the Czechoslovakia with train. After a successful flight in Czechoslovakia, he decided to come back to Turkey to establish a Turkey's first Civil Aviation School. He educates 12 pilots there, in 1937, Government sent him to Germany for engineering education, he graduated in 1939. When he came back to Turkey, Turkish officers didn't give him a licence because they stated 2 year study is not enough for engineering education. He establishes Hürkuş Airlines in 1952 however because of crashes, hijacks, his airline was banned to fly. At that time, Hughes becomes the richest person in the world with the wealth of 12.8 billion dollars. I tried to explain you the importance of environment for entrepreneur. As Turkish citizens, we don't even realize the problem and we don't analyze Hürkuş's experiences. Let's try to imagine that Hürkuş was successful, His company is one of most important airplane manufacturer in the world , Turkey exports airplanes to Western countries. How many engineers will be employed in Hürkuş Airlines? Doesn't Hürkuş Airlines have a rival company? How they will contribute to the Research and Development? As an entrepreneur, I need to ask these questions for the memory of Vecihi Hürkuş in order to ease my conscience. One last thing: entrepreneurs who admires Elon Musk, should investigate "Who does Elon Musk admire?". The answer is Hughes.

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