Turkey is preparing to receive defense ministers and high-level representatives from NATO inside its new military headquarters, “Iyildiz,” in the capital, Ankara, in a move that gives the project a political and military dimension that goes beyond being an administrative complex for the armed forces.
Satellite images analyzed by the Al Jazeera Network’s open source unit show that the main mass of the complex has been largely completed, while construction and finishing work is still ongoing in parts of its outer perimeter, which places the project in a transitional phase between the completion of its symbolic form and the continuation of its field preparation.
This appearance coincides with the NATO summit scheduled in Ankara on July 7-8.
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According to NATO’s official program, the summit will be held at the Beştepe Presidential Complex, while the Ayıldız headquarters will host a social reception for defense ministers on the evening of July 7, making the headquarters part of the official facade that Turkey presents to the allies.
What is “Ayildiz”?
The Turkish Ministry of Defense said that the “I Yildiz” project aims to bring together the Ministry of Defense, the Chief of Staff, and the commands of the land, naval and air forces within one campus, within the framework of strengthening the concept of joint operations within the Turkish Armed Forces.
The Ministry added, through its spokesman, Admiral Zeki Akturk, that the complex was designed with inspiration from the Turkish flag, and was built according to the concept of smart buildings and advanced technological infrastructure, with equipment that includes cybersecurity, ballistic protection, and confronting chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats. The Ministry also described the headquarters as one of the largest military headquarters in the world.
A huge military complex
A series of satellite images extending from April 2020 until this June show the site’s transformation from an open area and scattered buildings into a large military complex, whose circular features gradually began to appear before the design inspired by the crescent and star became clear in the latest images.
The comparison reveals that the pace of construction has accelerated in recent years, with the emergence of the main building, the internal road network, and the courtyards surrounding it, while the outskirts of the site and its external surroundings still bear indications of the continuation of work, whether in leveling, finishing, or the ancillary service structure.
Here the significance of the images emerges, as they not only document the rise of a huge architectural project, but also show that Ankara decided to present the headquarters as a symbol of its new military leadership, even before all of its outer layers were finally completed.
In the context of the symbolic preparations for the summit, Anadolu Agency reported, citing the General Directorate of the Mint and Stamps of the Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance, that Turkey had minted a commemorative five-lira coin on the occasion of hosting the NATO summit in Ankara, bearing the alliance’s logo and a picture of the Turkish presidential complex, to be put into circulation.
Comparison with “Octagon”
The official appearance of the “Ayildiz” headquarters comes in a regional context that has recently witnessed the emergence of huge military and institutional leadership projects, including the headquarters of the strategic leadership of the state in Egypt, known as the “Octagon”, in the New Administrative Capital.
Satellite images analyzed by the open source unit of Al Jazeera Network documented the development of the “Octagon” from the start of construction work in late 2016 until the completion of its facilities in recent years. A comparison between images from January 2017 and May 2026 showed the site’s transformation from an almost empty area into a huge complex that includes command buildings, service facilities, and a wide network of roads and facilities.
According to the Information and Decision Support Center of the Egyptian Council of Ministers, the “Octagon” includes specialized centers that include the state’s unified strategic data center, the control center for the closed strategic network, and centers for coordinating defense work and managing state facilities, emergency, safety, communications, and weather forecasts, in addition to strategic warehouses and multiple service facilities.
The pictures show that the main shape of “Ayyildiz” has become clear from above, reflecting the completion of the most important part of the project on the visual and symbolic level, but its external surroundings still bear the features of a site that has not yet reached its complete final form.
This places “Ayildiz” in a different position than just being a new military urban project. The headquarters, whose features have gradually begun to appear in satellite images over the past years, is now entering the stage of political and diplomatic presence by receiving delegations from NATO, before its external surroundings are completed with the final image.
While projects such as the Egyptian “Octagon” and the Turkish “Iyildiz” reflect a regional trend towards building huge and secure command centers, the timing of the Atlantic summit in Ankara gives the Turkish headquarters a special momentum, as Turkey presents it as the new face of its joint military leadership before its allies in NATO.
