Erdogan Asks Musk to Build Tesla Factory in Turkey

On Monday, the Turkish Presidential Communications Directorate announced that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, to open a factory for his company in Turkey.

According to the Directorate, Musk stated that many Turkish suppliers are already working with Tesla, and Turkey is among the leading candidate countries for the company's next factory.

As of now, Tesla has not responded to requests for comments.

The Turkish president and Elon Musk met at the Turkish House building, a skyscraper near the United Nations headquarters in New York, according to Turkish media.

Erdogan is in the US to attend the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The Directorate quoted Erdogan as saying during the meeting that Turkey is open to cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence and SpaceX's Starlink project for satellite internet. SpaceX is owned by Elon Musk.

Musk was also quoted as saying that SpaceX would like to work with Turkish authorities to obtain the necessary licenses to provide Starlink services in Turkey.

Furthermore, Erdogan invited Musk to attend the Turkish Teknofest Space and Technology Festival, which will take place in Izmir at the end of September. Musk welcomed the invitation.

It is expected that Musk will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in California on Monday. Musk announced on Twitter that their discussions would focus on artificial intelligence technology.

In August, Tesla expressed interest in building a factory in India to produce low-cost electric vehicles. Tesla currently owns six factories and is constructing a seventh in Mexico to expand its global presence.

Musk stated in May that the company would likely choose a location for a new factory by the end of this year.

Tesla's stock has risen by 123% so far this year, and the company announced on Saturday that it has produced five million cars.

In addition to Tesla, Musk also acquired The Boring Company (formerly known as Twitter) for $44 billion in 2022.

While Musk describes himself as an advocate for absolute freedom of expression, he has complied with some of the Turkish government's requests to regulate content in the country. In other instances, SpaceX objected to orders from Turkish courts.