Türkiye’s premier aviation, space, and tech festival, TEKNOFEST, hosted 225,000 visitors in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) from May 1-4, bringing the total number of attendees to nearly 10.7 million since its inception in 2018.
The event, held at Ercan International Airport in Lefkoşa, featured a wide array of activities, including tech competitions, flight demonstrations, workshops for children aged 6-14, aircraft exhibitions, planetarium screenings, and space simulation experiences. Historical exhibitions on the Cyprus Peace Operation and the Turkish Resistance Organization were also part of the program.
Acrobatic aircraft demonstrations, including performances by the Turkish Stars and SoloTurk, were among the highlights, as well as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) displays.
Over 47,000 contestants from 22 countries participated in the competitions, with 268 finalist teams, comprising 1,083 contestants, competing in various tech challenges.
TEKNOFEST TRNC is organized by the Turkish Technology Team (T3) and the Turkish Ministry of Industry and Technology, under the auspices of the TRNC Presidency. Anadolu is the global communications partner for the event.
Muhammet Saymaz, Secretary-General of TEKNOFEST, described the event as “one of Türkiye’s favorite brands” and emphasized its importance for the region. “There is no bigger festival on this scale in the TRNC,” he said.
Saymaz also noted that the event aimed to provide hands-on experiences for the youth of the TRNC, similar to those held annually in Türkiye. “The event made us see how meaningful it was for us to come here, as we saw families who came with hope for the future,” he added.
Since its launch, TEKNOFEST has attracted millions of visitors. In 2018, the event in Istanbul welcomed 550,000 people, growing to 1.72 million in 2019. After being held behind closed doors in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it returned with 1 million visitors in Istanbul in 2021 and made its international debut in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2022, drawing 300,000 attendees.
In 2022, the Black Sea region event in Samsun saw 1.25 million visitors, and in 2023, TEKNOFEST attracted a total of over 4.5 million visitors across Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir, with 2.5 million in Istanbul alone. The event in Adana last year saw 1.1 million visitors.
This year’s TRNC event added 225,000 visitors to the overall total, bringing the cumulative number of visitors to nearly 10.7 million.
Since its inception, the number of contestants has also surged. In 2018, 20,000 people applied to compete, with 50,000 applicants in 2019 and 100,000 in 2020. The 2021 event saw 200,000 applicants, with 600,000 applying in 2022. In 2023, 1 million people applied across Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir, and 1.65 million applied in Adana. This year, 47,000 contestants participated in the TRNC edition, bringing the total number of contestants to nearly 3.7 million.
As for competition teams, 4,333 applied to take part in 2018, a number that grew to 44,912 by 2021. In 2022, 154,000 teams applied across Türkiye and abroad, with the number rising to 337,000 in 2023 and 790,000 in Adana. The TRNC event added 47,000 teams to the total, bringing the cumulative number of teams to 1.4 million.
