President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke on the phone with Alper Gezeravcı, who completed Türkiye's first manned science mission in space and returned to Earth after 18 days on the International Space Station (ISS).
President Erdoğan said, "Mashallah, you came back to Earth," to Türkiye's first astronaut, Gezeravcı, who informed him that he completed Türkiye's first manned mission and returned to his designated end-of-mission location in the US.
Thanking Gezeravcı for successfully completing his mission, President Erdoğan said, "I hope that when you come to Ankara, we can meet in person and you can tell us about the entire process in detail. You will have very important duties in the future as well."
In response to President Erdoğan's question, "Are there any problems in terms of your health and well-being?" Gezeravcı said, "Fortunately, all is well, Mr. President. Even our doctors who welcomed us here were surprised. They expected me to take a while to adapt, but when I started running around outside the building, they were taken aback. Fortunately, everything is fine."
President Erdoğan remarked, "Thank Allah. May Allah help and guide us. Greetings and regards to your family. I hope we will have the opportunity to talk in detail when you return to Türkiye."
In addition, Gezeravcı said, "We successfully completed the duty you entrusted us with. Thank you for providing such an inspiring mission to our country and future generations. You have made our country the 22nd country to reach the ISS, and we have been the fastest country to do so, from the start of training to the completion of the mission at the ISS. Once again, I appreciate your decision and vision on this matter."