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Turkey seeks assurances on satellite capabilities despite Israeli opposition
Israel, which sells some of the pieces of the satellite's electro-optic camera system to French electronics company Thales, the company manufacturing the Göktürk-1, has been trying to put pressure on Thales to prevent Turkey from taking pictures of Israeli territory with the Göktürk-1 satellite.
Turkish Defense Ministry officials have organized a series of meetings with the French company requesting that they prove that images of any territory Turkey wants to see can be taken with the satellite before it is launched
Göktürk-1 was originally scheduled to be launched at the end of 2013. But the launch is now expected to take place some time in 2014 due to technical malfunctions Thales has experienced in the making of the satellite.
Speaking to Today's Zaman on condition of anonymity, a Turkish official said Turkey won't allow the satellite to be launched unless it is guaranteed that images of any area, including Israeli territory, can be taken from the satellite. “Verbal promises do not mean anything in this kind of project. There is no way back once the satellite is launched. France has to technically prove it to us,” the official said.
Meanwhile, Turkey's second domestically produced Earth observation satellite was launched into space from China on Dec. 18. Göktürk-2 is the first national high-definition Earth observation satellite to be produced by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) and Turkish Aerospace Industry, Inc. (TUSAŞ). The Göktürk-2 satellite, with 2.5 meters of resolution, will be used for operations of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) as well as other institutions that require satellite images for agriculture, transportation and urban development. Göktürk-1 will also be mainly used for counterterrorism operations.
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