On September 5, 2026, the Turkish American Technology Summit took place at Türkevi in Manhattan, the Turkish diplomatic complex that figured prominently in the former federal corruption case against then-New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The invitation-only gathering brought Turkish government institutions and state-linked defense manufacturers together with senior NATO innovation leaders and American deep-tech executives.
Among the Turkish participants was TUSAŞ, which is 45.45% owned by Türkiye’s Presidency of Defence Industries, or SSB, an agency that remains under U.S. CAATSA sanctions over Ankara’s purchase of Russia’s S-400 air-defense system. TATS was hosted by the Turkish Consulate General in New York and Türkevi, with Young MÜSİAD as a principal supporter, while organizers openly describe the platform as a vehicle for technology transfer and deeper commercial integration between the Turkish and American technology sectors.
Turkish Defense Firms and a Sanctioned State Agency
TATS lists Turkish Aerospace Industries, or TUSAŞ, HAVELSAN, Altınay Defence, Turkish Airlines and ADDMIRAL as sponsors. The Turkish Presidency Investment and Finance Office is listed as a supporter, while participating institutions included the Ministry of Industry and Technology, NATO DIANA and the NATO Innovation Fund.
TUSAŞ is 54.49% owned by the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation and 45.45% by Türkiye’s Presidency of Defence Industries, or SSB. HAVELSAN is 99.5% owned by the Armed Forces Foundation.
SSB’s role adds a significant complication. The United States sanctioned the agency under CAATSA after determining that it knowingly carried out a significant transaction with Russia’s Rosoboronexport to acquire the S-400 air-defense system. The State Department said the purchase endangered U.S. military technology and contributed to Türkiye’s removal from the F-35 program. SSB remains listed by the Treasury Department under the CAATSA-Russia sanctions program.
That placed senior NATO innovation officials at a summit alongside a major Turkish defense manufacturer partly owned by an agency still subject to U.S. Russia-related sanctions.
Young MÜSİAD and “Commercial Diplomacy”
Young MÜSİAD is the youth organization of MÜSİAD, a religiously conservative Turkish business association with documented political overlap with the ruling AKP. Academic research has documented ties during the AKP’s rise, including roughly ten MÜSİAD members among the party’s founders and about 20 elected as AKP deputies in 2002.
Young MÜSİAD openly operates a “Commercial Diplomacy Workshop” that says it trains participants to operate in global markets and manage capital through diplomatic tools. Its 2026 partners include DEİK, Türkiye’s government-coordinated Foreign Economic Relations Board, and the Turkish Presidency Investment Office. Speakers include former ambassadors and HAVELSAN chairman Hacı Ali Mantar.
Young MÜSİAD USA president Mehmet Mert Şahin, now a Senior Research Engineer at Samsung Research America, previously worked as a wireless communications engineer at ASELSAN, which is 74.2% owned by the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation.
In July, MÜSİAD USA joined six other Turkish-American organizations in delivering a letter to more than 50 members of Congress urging approval of F-35 sales to Türkiye and removal of CAATSA sanctions.
NATO Innovation Leadership Meets the Turkish Defense Sector
Among the summit’s participants was Dr. Ari Kristinn Jónsson, president of the NATO Innovation Fund, a venture-capital fund backed by 24 NATO allies and responsible for more than €1 billion in deep-tech investment. Major-General Paul Peyton, NATO DIANA’s Military Deputy Director for North America, also appeared.
The defense content extended beyond general networking. ADDMIRAL CEO Mahmut Bölükbaş later described discussing dual-use technologies and rapidly changing battlefield requirements with Peyton.
TATS also fits a broader push by Turkish trade bodies to deepen U.S.-Turkish defense integration. Two months before the summit, DEİK and its Türkiye-U.S. Business Council, TAİK, helped organize a defense-industry roundtable in Ankara. TAİK said participants discussed joint design, development and production, supply-chain integration, joint projects in third countries and cooperation in next-generation technologies.
Türkevi Was at the Center of the Eric Adams Case
Türkevi, where the event took place, figured prominently in the 2024 federal indictment of then-Mayor Eric Adams. Federal prosecutors alleged in 2021 a senior Turkish official sought Adams’s help getting the building opened without a completed fire inspection in time for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to New York.
According to the indictment, Adams pressured FDNY officials, and an official involved in assessing the building’s fire safety was allegedly told he could lose his job if he refused to acquiesce. Prosecutors further alleged that the intervention came amid a broader relationship in which Adams received travel benefits and campaign support from Turkish nationals and a Turkish government official.
Adams pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. In April 2025, U.S. District Judge Dale Ho dismissed the indictment with prejudice after the Justice Department moved to terminate the case, expressly stating that the court was making no determination about the merits of the allegations.
TATS presents itself as a lasting bridge between the Turkish and American technology sectors. Its first New York gathering placed Turkish diplomatic institutions, state-linked defense manufacturers and a business network training members in “commercial diplomacy” alongside NATO innovation figures and U.S. technology executives, while Turkish trade bodies separately push joint production and supply-chain integration with the American defense sector.