Republic of Turkey 2591

     In 1994 the Ministry of Posts and Communications of the Republic of Turkey intended to launch two communications satellites. The first one, TURKSAT 1A, was launched on January 24. The third stage of the Arieane V 63 launch vehicle failed and the satellite was destroyed. The explosion also destroyed Eutelsat 2F5. TURKSAT 1B was successfully launched on August 10, 1994.
     The stamp was issued on January 21, so it anticipated the successful insertion of the satellite, but it was not until July 9, 1996 with the launch of TURKSAT 1C that the network shown on the map of Europe and eastern Asia was completed.