"The future is in the skies," Turkey's founding father Kemal Ataturk told the country's newly formed parliament. Months later, in 1925 against the backdrop of a sweeping modernization campaign, the country's first aviation oversight body, the Turkish Aeronautical Association was founded, followed shortly thereafter by a national carrier, of sorts. Aviation was so central to Ataturk's vision that the incipient national carrier was established as its own entity within the department of defense. In those first years, a well-established aviation program was regarded as critical to the national well-being.
展开▼
