Blue Homeland by the Numbers: 175,000 Visitors, 2,698 Teams and a 3 Million Lira Prize Pool
Turkey’s naval technology festival, TEKNOFEST Blue Homeland (Mavi Vatan), opens its second edition at Golcuk Naval Shipyard in Kocaeli on 20-23 August 2026. The first edition, held at Istanbul Naval Shipyard in August 2025, drew 175,000 visitors over three public days, opened 12 warships to the public and attracted 2,698 teams to three underwater and unmanned surface vehicle competitions. This report collects every figure published by official Turkish sources and explains what the numbers say about the country’s naval technology pipeline.
Attendance: 175,000 in three days
TEKNOFEST’s closing statement put attendance at the 2025 Blue Homeland event at 175,000. The programme ran 28-31 August 2025, with public access limited to 29-31 August in three daily sessions (09:00-12:00, 12:00-15:00, 15:00-18:00). Entry was free but required online registration, which caps the crowd by design. Averaged across the three public days, that is roughly 58,000 visitors per day.
Set against TEKNOFEST’s other 2025 venues, the naval edition is a deliberately smaller, access-controlled event held inside an operational shipyard.
| Event | Year | Visitors |
|---|---|---|
| TEKNOFEST Istanbul | 2023 | 2,547,000 (record) |
| TEKNOFEST Istanbul | 2025 | 1,032,000 |
| TEKNOFEST Northern Cyprus | 2025 | 225,000 |
| TEKNOFEST Blue Homeland | 2025 | 175,000 |
No visitor target has been published for the 2026 edition.
The competition funnel: 2,698 entries, 86 finalists
Three technology competitions sit at the core of the event: the Unmanned Underwater Systems Competition, the Unmanned Surface Vehicle Competition and the Underwater Rocket Competition. In 2025 they drew 2,698 team entries. After design-report screening, 86 teams and a total of 1,000 competitors reached the finals, a conversion rate of 3.2 per cent, or one team in 31.
Forty-two of those finalist teams came from the Unmanned Underwater Systems Competition, run for the eighth time in 2025 and, for the first time, staged at sea rather than in a pool. Mission scenarios included a submarine rescue task modelled on the loss of the submarine Dumlupinar, a seabed search task and a subsea cable inspection and anomaly detection run – the same task set commercial and naval survey operators use to benchmark remotely operated vehicles.
| Stage | 2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Teams entered (3 competitions) | 2,698 | 100% |
| Finalist teams | 86 | 3.2% |
| Finalist competitors | 1,000 | ~11.6 per team |
| Unmanned Underwater Systems finalists | 42 teams | 49% of finalists |
Entry and finalist figures for 2026 have not been released. Applications closed on 28 February 2026 and the Unmanned Underwater Systems finalist list was announced on 3 August 2026.
Prize money up 20-25 per cent year on year
Four prize categories run in 2026. Adding only the first, second and third places gives a cash pool of 3,000,000 Turkish lira (Envanter Medya calculation, excluding special awards and material support).
| Competition / category | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Underwater Rocket | TRY 350,000 | TRY 300,000 | TRY 250,000 |
| Unmanned Surface Vehicle | TRY 300,000 | TRY 250,000 | TRY 200,000 |
| Unmanned Underwater Systems – Advanced | TRY 300,000 | TRY 250,000 | TRY 200,000 |
| Unmanned Underwater Systems – Basic | TRY 250,000 | TRY 200,000 | TRY 150,000 |
In 2025 the Basic category paid 200,000 down to 120,000 lira and the Advanced category 250,000 down to 100,000 lira. First place in the Basic category is therefore up 25 per cent year on year and the Advanced first place up 20 per cent. The Unmanned Surface Vehicle competition is worth watching for procurement reasons: its 2026 task set includes point-tracking and kamikaze engagement runs, the same profile as the armed unmanned surface vessels Turkey has fielded operationally.
Where Blue Homeland sits inside TEKNOFEST 2026
The event is hosted by the Turkish Ministry of National Defence and run by the Turkey Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation). Its three competitions are the naval slice of a much larger national programme.
| TEKNOFEST 2026 programme | Figure |
|---|---|
| Scale | 61 competitions across 13 provinces |
| Categories | 52 main, 127 sub-categories |
| Competitors | 1,600,000 people / 730,000 teams (record) |
| Cash prize pool | Over TRY 75 million |
| Material support | Over TRY 100 million |
| Grand final | 30 September – 4 October 2026, Sanliurfa GAP Airport |
The 3 million lira allocated to naval podium places is about 4 per cent of the national cash pool.
Ships and industry participation
Twelve vessels were opened to visitors in 2025: TCG Akhisar, TCG Alemdar, TCG Alanya, TCG Anadolu, TCG Atak, TCG Burgazada, TCG C-151, TCG Istanbul, TCG Nusret, TCG Orucreis, coast guard ship TCSG Guven and the presidential yacht TCG Savarona. A Bosphorus transit on 24 August 2025 featured TCG Anadolu, TCG Savarona, TCG Sakarya and the submarine TCG Hizirreis.
For 2026, TEKNOFEST has named TCG Savarona, TCG Anadolu and the submarines TCG 18 Mart and TCG Murat Reis in an open-ended list. STM has separately confirmed that TCG Istanbul – the first Turkish-designed I-class frigate – along with TCG Burgazada and the submarines TCG Hizirreis and TCG Sakarya will be accessible. The full ship list and total have not been published.
On the industry side, STM is the only firm with a detailed confirmed exhibit: scale models of the I-class frigate, the STM500 special-purpose submarine and the logistics support ship built for Turkey, Portugal and Pakistan. ASELSAN’s general manager attended the preparatory meeting and ASPILSAN has announced participation. Exhibitor counts, stand numbers and exhibition floor area remain unpublished for both editions.
Frequently asked questions
How many people attended TEKNOFEST Blue Homeland?
175,000 over three public days in 2025. No target has been announced for 2026.
How many competitions are there?
Three technology competitions, plus essay and painting contests and shipboard sports events including tug of war, heaving line throwing, dragon boat racing and, new for 2026, a 1.5 km open water swim.
How much prize money is on offer?
3 million lira across the four podium sets in 2026, with the largest single first prize – 350,000 lira – in the Underwater Rocket Competition.
Is entry free?
Yes, but online registration and an NSosyal account are required. Children under seven do not need to register. Gates are open 09:00-18:00.
Where is it held?
Golcuk Naval Shipyard, Kocaeli province, on the Gulf of Izmit – Turkey’s main submarine construction and overhaul yard.
Related coverage
Turkey’s National Fast Attack Craft
Kizilelma and TCG Anadolu
MILGEM: Ada and I-class ships
Sources
- TEKNOFEST closing bulletin on the 2025 Blue Homeland event (1 September 2025)
- TEKNOFEST events page, visitor figures (2026)
- TEKNOFEST visitor registration announcement (5 August 2026) and competition rulebook pages (2026)
- Anadolu Agency reporting on the Unmanned Underwater Systems Competition and the Golcuk edition (2025-2026)
- STM corporate announcement via Anadolu Agency (August 2026)
- TUBITAK statement on the 2025 edition (September 2025)
