Türkiye declines Musk’s offer to send starlink after deadly quake-UPDATED

Elon Musk,  CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX

© APA | Elon Musk, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX

# 06 February 2023 16:15 (UTC +04:00)

The Turkish government declined Elon Musk’s proposal to send a satellite broadband service to the country after the strongest earthquake to hit the country in decades, APA reports citing Bloomberg.

Musk said on Twitter that one of his companies, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., could provide the Starlink network as soon as approved by the Turkish government.

A senior Turkish official, who did not want to be named, thanked the multi-billionaire for the proposal but said Turkey had enough satellite capacity. The country has base stations working with batteries though electricity cannot be provided to some areas, the person said.

Read more: Strongest Quake in Decades Kills Hundreds on Turkey-Syria Border

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck in the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep has killed hundreds of people in Syria and Turkey and injured thousands more. It is the most powerful earthquake to hit the country since 1939.

SpaceX is due to launch Turkey’s first communication satellite, Turksat 6A, into orbit in the first quarter this year.

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Elon Musk made a statement regarding the that rocked Turkiye this morning, APA reports.

Assistant Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at Yale University School of Medicine, Mehmet Emin Adin, who tagged Elon Musk on Twitter, asked if Starlink could be activated for Turkiye, conveying that there were serious communication problems during the earthquake. Responding to this, Elon Musk said that the activation of Starlink that it is possible but he said the Turkish government should give approval.

The sharing made by Mehmet Emin Adin was as follows:

“Hey Elon Musk, there was a big earthquake in Turkey and neighboring countries. There are serious communication gaps. with your Starlink satellitesAny chance of helping?”

Elon Musk’s response was:

“Starlink has not yet been approved by the Turkish government. not approved. As soon as it’s approved, SpaceX can take action.”

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