Did President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu meet any businessmen during his official visit to Turkey on November 26 last year after taking the oath of office? Who were those businessmen? These questions were raised by the public at the time.

There were also allegations that military talks were held during the President's visit. Some photos claiming to show these alleged meetings were shared on social media as well.

In order to find the facts, Adhadhu requested for information from the President's Office under the Right to Information Act. The information includes the names of the businessmen who met the President during his visit to Turkey and the names of their affiliated businesses.

The request was sent to the President's Office through the Mahoali portal on December 9, 2023.

Below is the response from the President’s Office on December 28, 2023.

"We inform you that President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, on his visit to Turkey, did not meet any businessmen."

Response from the President’s Office on December 28, 2023.

However, during the ceremony on Friday night to inaugurate the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) Air Corps, Muizzu admitted to meeting with Turkish businessmen.

He met with the heads of the Turkish company Baykar, which manufactured the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones brought to the MNDF.

"Through the Turkish government, due to the close relations with the Turkish President, two senior officials from Baykar company, Selçuk and his brother Haluk met with us. The video we saw just now showed a few minutes of that meeting," Muizzu said.

The remark can be listened to from 1:35:16 to 1:35:30 of the video of the live event broadcast by the state broadcaster PSM.

Baykar is one of the largest private defense companies in Turkey with close ties to the Turkish government. The company specializes in UAV and drone manufacturing, C4I and artificial intelligence.

Selçuk Bayraktar

Selçuk Bayraktar, 44, is chairman of the board and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Baykar. He is known as the designer of Turkey's first military UAV.

He holds a bachelor's degree in electronics and communication engineering from Istanbul Technical University in 2002. In 2004, he received a master's degree in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2006, he received another master's degree from MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Selçuk Bayraktar with Muizzu.

He returned to Turkey in 2007 and began designing UAVs as CTO of Baykar.

Selçuk's wife, Sümeyye Erdoğan, is the daughter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The couple got married in 2016. According to Turkish media, Selçuk is likely to succeed Erdogan as the leader of the ruling AK Party.

In addition to Baykar, Selçuk is also the CEO of Fergani Space Technologies. The company was founded by Selçuk in 2022 to manufacture space technology and vehicles. The company is involved in building satellites.

Haluk Bairaktar

Haluk Bayraktar, 45, is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Baykar. He started working at Baykar in 2004 as an engineering manager.

He holds degrees in industrial engineering and financial engineering from the Middle East Technical University in Turkey and Columbia University in the United States.

Haluk Bairaktar.

In addition to his position as CEO of Baykar, Haluk runs various businesses in Turkey. He is the chairman of the board of SAHA Istanbul, a cluster of Turkish companies in the military and security sectors. He became chairman of SAHA in 2017.

Haluk is also involved in several other businesses. They include;

• Chairman of the board of military company Black Sea Shield
• Co-founder of artificial intelligence company Cezeri AI
• Co-founder and former chairman of Turkey Technology Team
• Member of the Board of the Turkish Science and Technology Research Foundation (TUBITAK)

President Dr. Muizzu's first overseas visit was made to Turkey soon after assuming office. He has not made a trip to Turkey since then. Muizzu also said his official visit to Turkey helped in bringing the drones to Maldives.

While the President's Office said the President did not meet any businessmen during the visit, the President's remark on Friday night contradicted the information disclosed by the President's Office. Due to this, there are doubts whether the President held meetings with other businessmen during the visit.

Details about the business ventures with militaries and some details of agreements are usually shared on Baykar's social media. But there is no mention of the agreement made with the Maldives. No information or photos of the meeting with Muizzu were shared on Seljuk and Haluk's social media or the President's Office's social media as well.

Around MVR 560 million was abruptly allocated from the state contingency budget to purchase these drones. The government and MNDf are now locked in the agreement.