The contemporary interstate rivalry makes the use of artificial intelligence a primary variable in defining cyber sovereignty and national security infrastructure. Türkiye, which has spent 25 years undergoing intense digitalization, is now moving towards a new era of development through its Artificial Intelligence Vision and Action Plan for 2026-2030. Introduced by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan last month, the plan comprises four action axes: "Discover, Benefit, Produce and Govern."

Türkiye’s current AI capabilities rest on two decades of systematic institutional development and layered policy frameworks. The new vision leverages this process to further advance Türkiye's digitalization toward a structured, global approach, while establishing data-based administration. The current plan provides a credible foundation for Türkiye's algorithmic leap.

Leveraging strategic advantages

Türkiye’s most distinctive competitive edge lies in its proven track record in autonomous defense technologies. The success of its unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) ecosystem, nurtured under the National Technology Move, has created powerful spillover effects into civilian sectors. Military-grade expertise in areas such as computer vision, sensor fusion, autonomous navigation, and swarm intelligence is now flowing into fintech, health care, smart agriculture, logistics and industrial automation. This military-to-civilian technology transfer is accelerating the growth of a vibrant AI-focused startup ecosystem and mobilizing both domestic and transnational venture capital.

This technological base is powerfully complemented by Türkiye’s advanced Digital Government infrastructure, which has generated a vast treasury of structured, high-quality public data. When paired with the country’s young, adaptive and increasingly tech-savvy population, these assets create an exceptionally strong foundation for developing localized, culturally attuned, and sovereign AI systems. Expanding large-scale research centers, high-performance computing facilities and national supercomputing capacity will be essential for cultivating world-class research and development (R&D) talent within the country.

Geopolitically, Türkiye benefits enormously from its unique position as a civilizational and geographical bridge. As a longstanding NATO ally, it maintains active cooperation with Western digital defense and security networks. At the same time, Ankara pursues targeted, domain-specific technological collaborations worldwide. This strategic balancing act enables Türkiye to preserve digital autonomy while maximizing technological and economic gains.

Furthermore, Türkiye is actively contributing to new spheres of technological influence. Some of the prominent initiatives include the joint development of common large language models with the Organization of Turkic States under the "Digital Turkish World” vision. Concurrently, the development of possible partnerships in semiconductors and advanced manufacturing with Taiwan and South Korea helps the country to become an indispensable mediator and rule-maker in the new multi-polar AI world. These efforts position Türkiye as a potential leading tech hub in Eurasia.

2026-2030 AI road map

The 2026-2030 Artificial Intelligence Action Plan stands out for its determination to convert strategic ambition into concrete, quantifiable, and time-bound targets. Anchored firmly in the four pillars of "Discover, Benefit, Produce and Govern”, the plan includes the following key objectives.

Discovery by delivering comprehensive AI literacy and skills training to five million citizens within the first two years, systematically unlocking human capital potential and closing the domestic digital divide.

Benefit by allocating at least 2% of all public investment funds directly to AI integration projects and introducing specialized AI coupons for small and medium-sized enterprises to democratize access and foster widespread digital equity.

Production by mobilizing a dedicated $10 billion investment fund to dramatically expand data centers, cloud infrastructure and supercomputing networks, with the target of scaling national data center capacity to 1 gigawatt (GW).

Government by establishing dedicated AI Growth Zones for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to accelerate civilian applications of defense technologies, while positioning Istanbul as a leading hub for technological investment, innovation diplomacy, and ethical AI governance.

In this respect, the vision for 2026-2030 builds upon the solid groundwork laid by the previous 2021-2025 National Artificial Intelligence Strategy and Action Plan, taking a bold step from technology adoption towards full algorithmic sovereignty and strategic autonomy. The implementation of the action plan and new framework amounts to transforming the country's remarkable achievements in the defense industry and digital government into a long-term strategy.

Fundamentally, this vision deliberately avoids the extremes of overly restrictive state-centric monopolies on the one hand and purely corporate-driven, unregulated models on the other. Türkiye is carving out its own unique path that incorporates an effective industrial policy and adaptive, value-based regulation. Ultimately, the key point of this strategy is the protection of the country's promising human capital via various digital literacy programs and ethical AI governance.

Success, however, will depend on the maturity of regulation, the efficient collaboration between the government and the private sector, and a continued emphasis on a human-centric perspective that puts human dignity, human autonomy, and digital equality at the focus of technological progress. If these conditions are met, Türkiye could be well-positioned to emerge not merely as a regional player, but as a sustainable and influential architect of the emerging multi-polar digital order.