A. MÜREN GÖKERİ, PE, PhD
President and CEO

Born in 1940, Dr. Gökeri received his BSEE degree from Robert College, Istanbul, in 1963. That same year he was selected for Fulbright Scholarship and went to University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, to do graduate work.. After receiving his MSEE degree from that University in 1965 he joined a prominent consulting engineering firm in Seattle as an electrical engineer and maintained that position until 1975. His tenure in that company was interrupted for two years (1966-68) for military service in Turkey as a reserve officer. After his return to the US, Gökeri got his Professional Engineer Licence from the State of Washington in 1971 and resumed his graduate studies, which earned him a PhD degree in 1975. Upon his return to Turkey in 1975, Dr. Gökeri became a partner in NAMAT Ltd. and lead the company until 1993. During that time NAMAT Company flourished and became well known in Turkish Army Aviation Community as rotary wing aircraft experts. Among many helicopter programs promoted by NAMAT the most prominent was UH-1H coproduction program of the Turkish Land Forces, which was a brainchild of Dr. Gökeri.

As the Chief Executive Officer and senior partner of ASTEK, Dr. Gökeri concentrated company’s activities on helicopter up-grade and retrofit programs and within two years two major programs were sold to the Turkish Army, both first of their kind in Turkey.

During 1976-1989 time frame Dr. Gökeri also held a faculty position in the Department of Computer Engineering in the Middle East Technical University, Ankara.

BÜLENT ACUN, MSME
Vice President

Being a former member of NAMAT, Mr. Acun worked with the present ASTEK team since 1984 as an engineer in charge of technical planning and execution of military programs and after sales support. Mr. Acun’s experience in military programs dates back to 1983 while serving at Joint US military Mission Aid to Turkey (JUSMMAT) as a reserve Turkish Army officer. Since that time Mr. Acun worked with a large number of Army and Navy technical and operational officers and is well known in that environment.

Mr. Acun is a graduate of Ankara State Engineering and Architectural Academy (BSME, 1977) and University of New Hampshire, NH, USA, (MSME, 1981). While doing post-masters work at University of New Hampshire (1981-1983), Mr. Acun took part in various US National Science Foundation projects as a research fellow

He attended the foreign procurement course at the Turkish General Staff Headquarters in Ankara between 1989-1990, and was assigned to the Turkish Defense Attaché’s office in Washington D.C., USA as Army Supply Attaché. He served in this capacity during the years 1990-1993. Subsequently, he was appointed to 3rd Army as 4th Echelon Maintenance Depot Commander in Erzincan, Turkey.

In 1996, he was assigned as the Ordnance Equipment and Optics Branch Chief at the Turkish Land Forces Command Headquarters. Colonel Bedirhan Erdoğan assumed this duty until he retired from the Turkish Army in 1998.

Born in the Province of Erzincan in 1953, Baykal was commissioned as second lieutenant in the Turkish Land Forces (TLF) following his graduation from the Military Academy and Army Infantry School in 1973. After serving as platoon and company commanders in various TLF Infantry Divisions, he went to the TLF Aviation School and got his pilot wings in 1977. Thereafter he served in various Army Aviation units as helicopter pilot and squadron leader, and logged over 2700 flight hours mostly on AB-204, AB-205 and AB-206 type helicopters until his retirement in 1992.
In his civilian life, Baykal joined Altay Company in Ankara in 1992 as aircraft marketing manager, and Akca Company in Izmir in 1998 as a pilot.