Eroglu claimed that the Turkish space program is "better" than NASA's technology, which according to the minister is "inadequate."
"Who does NASA think it is? We're better than them," Eroglu said in the Turkish parliament, according to Hurryiet Daily News.
The Minister of Forestry and Waterworks also added that Turkish aerospace technology is ahead of NASA's.
"They might have satellites, but we have our Gokturk [Turkey's observation satellite]," Eroglu said.
It's certainly a good thing to have a firm belief and optimism in your country's technology, but it should come with a healthy dose of reality.
Until now Turkey has only managed to send two satellites into orbit. Since Ankara can't even launch satellites itself it, but rather has to depend on other countries to do it. The pride and joy of Turkey's space program, Gokturk-2, was launched from Russia in 2011, for example.
Meanwhile, "inadequate" NASA aero-scientists are currently managing over 500 active satellites in space.
The Turkish government recently announced it aims to become a "space power" in the near future and send 16 satellites into space by 2020. Not bad for a start, but chances are that in four years the number of NASA satellites would go well beyond 500.
It looks like all of those dams and water treatment centers that Mr. Eroglu and his friends built all over Turkey might have had some serious environmental effects. And when NASA pointed out this, it made the Turkish minister mad, making him to lash out against the US space agency.
This isn't the first time when a high-ranking Turkish public figure has said something ridiculous and quite embarrassing. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's wife Emine Erdogan recently said that harems in the Ottoman Empire were a good thing, as they provided women with education.
Well, not so fast Mrs. Erdogan, Turkish historian Ayse Hur, clearly someone with a much better knowledge of the Ottoman history, said Erdogan's comments were nonsense, because harems were nothing but the institutions of slavery for women.
