People's Bayraktar
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People's Bayraktar () was a series of fund-raising projects for the purchase of the Turkish
Bayraktar TB2 Bayraktar TB2 (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Standard-bearer TB2'') is a Medium-altitude long-endurance UAV, medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operati ...
drones for the needs of the
Armed Forces of Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...
. Fundraising projects for the Bayraktar TB2 intended to serve the Ukrainian Armed Forces were successful in
Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
and Ukraine itself. Similar projects have also been attempted in
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and
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.


Fundraising


Lithuania

The first Bayraktar fundraising for the Armed Forces of Ukraine took place in Lithuania. It was announced by Lithuanian TV presenter
Andrius Tapinas Andrius Balys Tapinas (born 6 April 1977) is a Lithuanian journalist, TV anchor, and writer. Tapinas was the anchor and producer of a long-running popular Lithuanian TV program ''The Money Generation''. Since 2014, he hosts the Lithuanian TV pr ...
. This initiative received approval from the defense departments of Lithuania and Turkey. Lithuanians collected more than 5 million euros for this purchase in three days. On June 2, 2022,
Baykar Baykar is a private Turkish defence company specialising in UAVs, C4I and artificial intelligence. Name Baykar is a portmanteau of the words Bayraktar Kardeşler (''Bayraktar Brothers''). The company presently operates under the names "Bayk ...
, the manufacturer of attack drones, announced that it will donate Bayraktar TB2 to the Lithuanian campaign. Lithuanian Defense Minister
Arvydas Anušauskas Arvydas Anušauskas (born 29 September 1963) is a Lithuanian politician and historian. He focuses on the history of the interwar Lithuanian secret services, KGB actions in Lithuania, and Soviet repressions in Lithuania. As a member of the Homela ...
emphasized that Lithuania will use the collected money to buy the necessary ammunition for the attack drone. On June 9, the Lithuanian Post Office started selling a stamp with the image of Bayraktar TB2. Half of the money for the purchase of the stamp goes to the accounts of the charity fund "Blue/Yellow" () for humanitarian aid to Ukraine.


Ukraine

On June 22, 2022, on his birthday, TV presenter and public figure Serhiy Prytula announced an all-Ukrainian fundraising campaign for attack drones Bayraktar TB2. According to him, the "People's Bayraktar" project was being prepared for about a month. About 300 million
hryvnias The ( ; , ''hrn''; sign: ₴; code: UAH) has been the national currency of Ukraine since 2 September 1996. The hryvnia is divided into 100 kopiykas (). It is named after a measure of weight used in Kievan Rus'. Etymology The currency of Kie ...
were collected on the first day. On the third day of fundraising, the planned amount of 500 million was fully collected and exceeded. According to Prytula, as of the evening of June 24, more than ₴600 million had been collected, which would allow ordering four Bayraktars instead of three. One of the fundraising slogans was the phrase: every six hryvnias matter. Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the
President of Ukraine The president of Ukraine (, ) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. ...
, also commented on the completion of fundraising: "In just three days, Andrius Tapinas and the people of Lithuania raised €6 million for Bayraktar for Ukraine. The Serhiy Prytula Foundation and the Ukrainian people repeated the challenge and will buy four more "birds". We will win because real people from all over the world are behind us. For the Russian Federation, there is nothing but gloom and emptiness." International mass media, such as
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,
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Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...
, TRhaber, etc., actively wrote about the collection of funds for combat drones. After the fund-raising was completed, drone manufacturer
Baykar Baykar is a private Turkish defence company specialising in UAVs, C4I and artificial intelligence. Name Baykar is a portmanteau of the words Bayraktar Kardeşler (''Bayraktar Brothers''). The company presently operates under the names "Bayk ...
announced that it would send three drones to Ukraine, for which Ukrainians raised money, free of charge, on the basis that all the fundraised money be donated to charities helping Ukrainians both in Ukraine and outside (refugees). The condition was accepted. On August 18, Prytula announced through a YouTube video and a post on
Notion Notion or Notions may refer to: Software * Notion (music software), a music composition and performance program * Notion (productivity software), a note-taking and project-management program from Notion Labs, Inc. * Notion (window manager), the ...
that the money raised was spent on striking a deal with
ICEYE ICEYE Ltd. (natively ICEYE Oy) is a Polish-Finnish microsatellite A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain Sequence motif, DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–5 ...
, a Finnish satellite manufacturer. This deal allows Ukraine's Ministry of Defence full access to all the systems and full capabilities for one of ICEYE’s satellites already in orbit over the region. Prytula has said that this access was purchased for "over a year". The Bayraktars arrived in Ukraine on September 5 and have since been sent to the frontlines. They were named Халепа (Khalepa), Ковінька (Kovinka), and Трясця (Triastsia); all three of these names are exclamations in Ukrainian used to express anger or dissatisfaction. The implied meaning of these names is that enemy soldiers will be yelling in anger when they get attacked by the drones.


Poland

On June 28, 2022, following Lithuania and Ukraine, a fundraising campaign for Bayraktar was launched in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, initiated by Polish journalist
Sławomir Sierakowski Sławomir Witold Sierakowski (; born 4 November 1979) is a Polish journalist, literary critic and sociologist as well as head of Krytyka Polityczna (Political Critique), a movement of left-wing intellectuals, artists and activists based in Polan ...
. The fundraising was planned for 30 days, expecting to collect 4.5 million złotys. As of June 30, the first million of złotys were collected in Poland. In total, 22.5 million zlotys were raised, more than planned. Also this time, the Turkish company provided the drone "Bayraktar" to Ukraine for free, and the allocated funds have been spent on humanitarian aid instead. Sławomir Sierakowski published a letter from the board of directors of Baykar.


See also

* People's Satellite


References

{{2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Reactions to the Russian invasion of Ukraine Charities based in Ukraine Crowdfunding projects 2022 establishments in Ukraine Turkey–Ukraine relations Aviation history of Ukraine Drone warfare Aerial warfare in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Bayraktar TB2 Aviation history of Turkey