ASELSAN Marks 51 Years With a Film About Elif
ASELSAN has released a special film for the 51st anniversary of its founding on 14 November 1975. Its main character is Elif, a woman born the same year as the company. Not a single radar, missile or electronic warfare system appears on screen. The story is built around the people in Elif’s life who show their love through actions rather than words.
According to the company, the film starts from the idea that love can be shown without being said, and brings love for people and love for one’s country together in a single feeling. The company’s half-century journey, which began under arms embargoes, is told this time through one woman’s life.
From the Cradle to the Office
The film opens in 1975. A mother in a patterned dress lines up pillows on both sides of a bed so her newborn will not roll off. Later we see a young Elif in her school uniform beside her grandmother. The protective love of her mother, grandmother, father and later her husband appears in a different form at every stage of her life: a dinner, an umbrella opened in the rain, a quiet embrace.
The turning point comes when Elif becomes the one who protects. We see her as a mother walking her son to school and smiling at him in the car’s rear-view mirror. In the final scene she is working late at night at her desk at ASELSAN. In the company’s words, that moment gives her transformation a much larger meaning.
The film closes with a line saying ASELSAN has expressed its love for the nation for 51 years by “working day and night” for the country.
People Instead of Products
Defence industry films usually lean on test firings, system footage and technical specifications. ASELSAN’s 51st anniversary film steps away from that habit and puts people at the centre of the story. The company describes this as a human-focused, emotional approach that departs from the product-driven communication typical of the sector.
Last year’s 50th anniversary film told the story of the company’s technology journey, which began with the goal of building Türkiye’s first domestic military radio. This year’s film looks at the same journey through the eyes of the people who grew up under its protection.
A Company Born From an Embargo
ASELSAN was founded on 14 November 1975 under the leadership of the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation, as Türkiye faced an arms embargo following the 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation. Its first task was to produce the radios the military needed at home. Today ASELSAN ranks among the world’s leading defence companies and employs about 15,000 people developing future technologies.
The company’s next big step is the Oğulbey Technology Base, described as the largest defence industry investment in the history of the Republic. With it, ASELSAN is preparing to take its production and technology capacity to a new level. For more on its campuses and Oğulbey, see our guide to ASELSAN’s headquarters and campuses; for its latest financials, see our report on its nine-month results.
ASELSAN’s 51st Anniversary Film at a Glance
| Founded | 14 November 1975 |
| Film | 51st anniversary special |
| Main character | Elif, born in 1975, the same year as ASELSAN |
| Approach | A human, emotional story with no products shown |
| Employees | About 15,000 |
| Next investment | Oğulbey Technology Base |
