Turkish Tech Giants Eye Central Asia at Gitex Kazakhstan Debut

(MENAFN) Turkish technology companies made a prominent push into Central Asian and Caucasian markets this week, seizing on the landmark debut of Gitex AI Kazakhstan — the global tech forum's first-ever edition in the region — held across two days in Almaty.

The inaugural event drew 336 enterprises and startups, attracted more than 100 investors, and featured upwards of 200 speakers representing 50 nations, cementing Kazakhstan's growing stature as a regional digital hub.

Among the highlights was a dedicated Turkish pavilion, spotlighting homegrown firms including network security specialist Opinnate, geospatial data company Geolab, and state-backed satellite and IT powerhouse Turksat — each using the platform to aggressively court new partnerships across the CCA corridor.

Opinnate co-founder and CEO Serkan Ozden told media that the timing could not be more strategic.

"We're trying to establish a presence in the CCA region. We also have an agreement with a distributor here. We've started operating intensively in this market this year," he said.

Ozden noted that Opinnate's core offering — detecting misconfigured firewall rules within existing organizational systems — positions the firm as a credible alternative to dominant global players, including Israeli cybersecurity manufacturers currently holding significant regional market share.

"We are a Turkish manufacturer with numerous advantages over them in the market. Many customers have switched to us by abandoning the competing solution and we aim to achieve similar success in this market as well," he said.

Meanwhile, Esra Cindir, a geographic information systems expert at Geolab, described the Kazakhstan edition as a natural extension of the firm's existing Gitex presence following prior participation in Dubai.

"We wanted to try this one out as well. That's why we wanted to see the people here and the customer profile here," she said.

She reported an encouraging early response from attendees: "We've met with many people, and so far, things are going very well."

Cindir outlined Geolab's portfolio as spanning digital cartography, satellite imagery, digital infrastructure management, and 360-degree street-view technology — with active cross-border operations already underway.

"We actually have projects involving satellite imagery with Russia. We're also looking for clients in Kazakhstan—we're here to assess the need, and that's how we're proceeding," she said.

Rounding out the Turkish contingent, Turksat — which specializes in e-transformation solutions and institutional digitalization — used the Almaty forum to formally introduce its service portfolio to the Kazakhstani market. The company confirmed to media on the sidelines of the event that considerable interest has already emerged, and that it is actively pursuing strategic partnerships across allied and friendly nations as part of a broader export drive.

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