12.09.2020 İstanbul
The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they strongly condemn those trying to meddle with Turkey's rightful and national issue in the Eastern Mediterranean from thousands of kilometers away, saying, “Turkey is able to protect all air, land and sea borders. We will defend our rights arising from international law in the Aegean and Mediterranean.”
TOBB
University of Economics and Technology (TOBB ETU) Faculty of Law Diploma
Ceremony was held on the Island of Democracy and Freedoms with the
participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
TOBB
President and TOBB ETU Board of Trustees Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, in his speech at
the ceremony, stated that they strongly condemn those trying to meddle with Turkey's
rightful and national issue in the Eastern Mediterranean from thousands of
kilometers away, saying, “Turkey is able to protect all air, land and sea
borders. We will defend our rights arising from international law in the Aegean
and Mediterranean. Let everyone know that if the matter is our homeland, the
Turkish nation is one and united. I'd like to underline a matter here. The
President of Turkey is Turkey! Those who say 'The president is separate, the Turkish
nation is separate', have received their answer. As yesterday, we will not take
a step back in protecting our marine homeland.”
Reporting
that TOBB University of Economics and Technology is sending off its 13th
term graduates, however graduation ceremony is not being held due to the pandemic
Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Therefore, we wanted to do something different. This was
where democracy and the law were cut down 60 years ago. We wanted to meet with
our graduates of TOBB ETU Faculty of Law here. We wanted our country to see the
past, what troubles we have been through, to see it in place, to feel it. This
ceremony has a different meaning for this reason.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
stated that Yassıada is symbol of sadness and a fortitude which expresses love
for the nation and the homeland even unto martyrdom, “On this occasion, we
remember and pay our respects to three martyrs of democracy, Adnan Menderes,
Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Hasan Polatkan who, while fighting for the country, were forced
to pay the heaviest costs. May Allah give them all place in heaven, and may
their souls be praised.”
The
TOBB President stated that, under the orders and patronage of President Erdoğan,
turned this island visited by none and abandoned to its fate, into a giant
monument, a symbol of national will and democracy.
“TOBB
ETU is the most important work that our community is proud of,” Hisarcıklıoğlu
said. When establishing TOBB ETU, we aimed to raise young people who carry our
nation to the future, produce technology, and invent. Praise Allah, the seed we
planted has taken. Today, TOBB ETU has become a university that exports ideas
and technology to the world. We are among the best young universities in the
world, according to international indices. Our scientific research programs are
developing rapidly. Our number of graduate, PhD students and faculty members are
constantly increasing. Our incubator, Garage, has companies competing with
Microsoft, exporting technology to Nokia.
Our
Faculty of Law students also graduate with 1 year of work experience and 2
foreign languages thanks to our joint education programs. Our faculty is the
first in Turkey in judicial examinations. In the Fictional Trial Contests, our
students lose to no one. Our graduates are swell our chests with pride not only
in Turkey but all over the world in bar exams.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
also addressed the graduates, “Now you are a TOBB ETU graduate! Be fair and
listen to the voice of your conscience. I have no doubt that you will be a
lawyer who will serve the future of this country. Try to make the right strong,
not the strong right. We trust you. We're very proud of you. We expect a lot
from you on behalf of our country.”
- President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also began his remarks by congratulating all the
students who experienced the joy of graduation today.
Wishing
the graduating students a lifetime achievements, Erdoğan thanked the families
and academic staff of the university who contributed the most to the
achievements of the students.
Erdoğan
said that during the 16-year period since the founding of the university, it has
become one of the most distinguished educational institutions in the country,
and said that the majority of Turkey's highest students who have the highest
exam success today prefer this university.
President
Erdoğan stated that the university's common education model contributes greatly
to its success, and said: “This model, which includes sharing experience as
well as knowledge, provides our young people with significant advantages in
their professional lives. I believe that every single graduate here will serve
the development of our country as a well-educated judge, prosecutor or lawyer,
and strengthen our justice system. Undoubtedly, it is important to assimilate
moral and human values as academic achievement and internalize these values. In
particular, our law school graduates need to perform their professions with an
understanding that centers on conscience as well as good legal knowledge. I
believe that the graduates of our University of Economics and Technology will
make their differences in this regard.”
- “The cost of the February 28th
intervention to our country's economy reaches 380 billion dollars”
Erdoğan
stated that the graduation ceremony of the law school also holds meaning as it
coincides with the 40th year of the September 12th Coup
on the Island of Democracy and Freedoms, and that “September 12th,
1980 is engraved in the memory of our nation as one of the darkest days in our
political history. This coup, which has brought Turkey to the brink of great
destruction economically, politically, diplomatically and legally, lost ten
years for our country.”
President
Erdoğan noted that every attempted coup has serious costs to the country, and said,
“The 1960 coup condemned our country to the IMF, and the 1971 memorandum
condemned our people to gas, flour, sugar queues. The 1980 coup has broken the
hearts of our nation for years. The cost of the February 28th intervention
to our country's economy is 380 billion dollars. Rather than economic bills,
the real impact of coups is the grave destruction it causes on our justice
system. In all of the coup attempts, the justice system has served as the stick
of oppression, not as the manifestation of justice. As a result of the lawless
decisions of the coup courts, a Prime Minister and two Ministers were executed
on May 27th, and young people under the age of 18 were sent to their
gallows by raising their age on September 12th. All of these,
applauded by the coup plotters have undermined our people's trust in the
judicial system. This is the mirror of Turkey's struggle for democracy. This
place is very important. It is a symbol of the Turkish democracy hitting rock
bottom and its consequent rise. Our nation has called it 'Mourning island' for
years due to the shame of the Yassıada courts. And the coup plotters wanted
Yassıada to be a cautionary tale. The nation has been threatened with the fate
of Adnan Menderes and his friends for 60 years.”
Erdoğan
said that Yassıada's shadow has lain over Turkish politics for many years, “We
have been subjected to the same threats many times in this journey in service
to our country. By turning Yassıada into the Island of Democracy and Freedoms,
we paid our debt of loyalty to our martyrs and made this a monument of our
democracy.”
Erdoğan
congratulated TOBB, who took responsibility for the fact that the Island of
Democracy and Freedoms became a reality, said: “We strive to move Turkey's fight
for stability forward in all areas. With the reforms we have implemented,
especially the Presidential System of Government, we have eliminated all the
guardianship marks over our democracy, put an end to the bans, expanded the
areas of freedom, fortified security and justice. We have made the national
will dominant in this country as the President's Alliance. With our July 15th
saga, we taught guardianship zealots a lesson they will never forget. Besides
democracy, we have moved our country to unimaginable levels in all areas,
especially education and health. Today, Turkey is peaking in the economy. And
the West is going to lower our score again? No matter what you do, your scoring
is worthless. The truth stands. Our facts are very different.”
- “Our greatest desire is not to
experience the problems we have experienced in our youth”
President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan noted that with the reforms made, the rights and freedom
of citizens have been expanded; in the field of the judiciary, the belief in the
manifestation of justice has been restored. He addressed the youth:
“We
have worked night and day to leave a more beautiful, more prosperous, more democratic
country for our youth. In this process, young people, our greatest desire is that
the youth do not experience the troubles of our past. Thankfully, we were able
to build a freer and safer Turkey than 18 years ago. I hope you won't encounter
the troubles we've been through. You will not be exposed to the pressures,
provocations, tensions and conflicts we were subjected to. I hope you won't
suffer our troubles. You will receive, instead of a climate of conflict, a just
and solution-producing political tradition. You will live as citizens of a
respected, respected country that has solved its chronic problems, strengthened
in domestic politics, foreign policy.”
Erdoğan
said that the country's success chart will go much higher with the efforts of
young people, and that they are focused on implementing the 2023 goals, and
that young people will build the Turkey of 2053 and 2071.
Erdoğan
expressed confidence in the young people he sees as the guarantee of the future
as President of Turkey, and expressed his gratitude to academics for their
efforts.
President
Erdoğan ended his speech with, “May Allah protect our country and our nation
from all kinds of coups, guardianship, and provocations which have pitted brother
against brother.”
- TOBB ETU Rector Prof. Dr. Yusuf Sarınay
TOBB
ETU Rector Prof. Dr. Yusuf Sarınay said that since the day TOBB ETU was founded,
it viewed growing entrepreneurial and innovative manpower as the greatest
contribution to Turkey's future in order to enrich Turkey and reach its 'Strong
Turkey' goal.
Sarınay
reminded that TOBB ETU incorporated the law school in 2009 in order to train
qualified lawyers to defend the rule of democracy and law and fair rulings.
After
the ceremony, Hisarcıklıoğlu took a commemorative photo with young lawyers and
toured the island.