According to a statement from Baykar Technologies, the life story of the company’s founder Ozdemir Bayraktar, a pioneer of Türkiye’s indigenous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programme, has been brought to screen in a new documentary titled “Ozdemir Bayraktar: An AKINCI passed through this world”.
The production was released on Baykar’s YouTube channel and was presented at a special screening at the Ozdemir Bayraktar National Technology Centre attended by figures from the media, arts, sports and business sectors.
Produced for international audiences, the documentary is available with English, Arabic, Russian and Ukrainian subtitles, and additional languages will be added in the future.
It is also set to be broadcast on TRT Belgesel and made available through digital platforms including D-Smart GO, Tabii, TV+ and Tivibu.
The project was completed after three years of meticulous work, with filming carried out in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Antalya.
Extensive archival research unearthed previously unreleased footage of Bayraktar, and the documentary depicts in detail the arduous UAV and UCAV (unmanned combat aerial vehicle) development efforts conducted by the Bayraktar family alongside soldiers at military bases in eastern and southeastern Türkiye.
A total of 47 individuals appear in the film through on-camera interviews, including senior military officials, bureaucrats, politicians, close friends and family members. They recount Bayraktar’s struggle to develop Türkiye’s unmanned systems and overcome bureaucratic and operational obstacles. The documentary aims to present the anatomy of a determined entrepreneurial struggle through close testimony from key witnesses of recent history.
In parallel with the film’s release, a book of the same name in Turkish, “Özdemir Bayraktar: Bu Dünyadan Bir Akıncı Geçti,” has also been published. The book offers a deep dive into Bayraktar’s life and serves as a historical account of the National Technology Initiative, featuring previously unseen photographs and historical documents.
The film marks the latest effort to explore the legacy of the engineer whose work helped shape Türkiye’s military UAV and UCAV capability and was created in memory of Bayraktar’s contributions to the country’s defence and technology sectors.
