Here are the highlights from Erdoğan's speech: I hope that the book, loyalty, bookbinding art and restoration exhibition that we opened on the occasion of Eksim Holding's fortieth anniversary will be beneficial. On behalf of my country and nation, I would like to thank Eksim Holding for their unique contributions to the Turkish economy for forty years. I congratulate you and the holding employees on their fortieth anniversary and wish you many more years full of success.
On this occasion, today I once again pray to God's mercy for my dear friends Abdullah and Fahrettin Tivnikli, whose memories I always remember with longing. The late Abdullah and Fahrettin Tivnikli, in addition to being excellent businessmen, were also foundation people who mobilized their earnings for the nation, the country, and the oppressed and victimized. They were two lovers of science who were closely interested in the issues in the Islamic geography, read and wrote, and never severed their ties with science and books. I pray that God rests both of their souls and rests their souls in heaven. Mr. Ebubekir briefly talked about the founding values of both the ISAR Foundation and Eksim Holding, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. It is admirable that the awareness of responsibility towards the nation, to which the late Abdullah and Fahrettin Tivnikli gave great importance, is maintained. I have to emphasize this here. I am very pleased to see that their legacy and legacy is being properly cared for, as it is here today. I also find very valuable the work of Abdullah Tivnikli, which our İSAR Foundation successfully carries out in different fields, including education and publishing, and which enriches our world of ideas and hearts. I would like to express my gratitude to all our bookbinders who meticulously revived the works in the exhibition for their efforts, and I wish health to their hands and hearts.
"THE THOSE WITHOUT A PAST HAVE NO PAST"
Dear friends, we all know that those who have no past cannot have a past. There is no future that can be built by those who are indifferent to their past, those who are disconnected from their past, and especially those who deny their past. As a nation, we are the owners of a truly great civilization, a deep-rooted history and a rich cultural heritage. Behind our history, civilization and culture lies a unique knowledge, some of which derives from the works exhibited here.
"LIKE CIVILIZATIONS, NATIONS AND PEOPLE LIVE WITH THEIR ROOTS"
This strong knowledge that has kept us alive for centuries gains its true meaning with books and libraries. As you know, the example of a plane tree is often used when describing our civilization. Just like civilizations, nations and people live with their roots. It survives with its roots. It holds on to life and history with its roots. The strongest vein that connects us to our roots as a nation and as individuals are our books, filtered from the alembic of our connoisseurs of knowledge, ideas and hearts. It is not in vain that those who wanted to cut off our nation's ties with its roots targeted our books and libraries for a while.
"BOOKS WERE TARGETED ON FEBRUARY 28"
This country has seen the days when its most valuable documents were sold to foreigners for scrap for three cents a dozen, in order to be made into paper pulp. The most shameful book massacres took place during coup periods when national will and democracy were suspended. Most recently, during the 28 February period, 500 of them were sent to Sultan II. 4,500 works belonging to Abdulhamid Khan's personal library were thrown away from the Istanbul University Library by the tutelary administrators of the period.
These mistakes made in the past have a large share in the background of the cultural desertification that we unfortunately feel the effects of in some areas today. In this respect, I consider it particularly important that our ISAR Foundation protects our history, culture, civilizational acquis and works that connect us to our roots. I say this especially for this reason. Look, we are a nation that has created exceptional works in the art of bookbinding and trained world-famous bookbinders. The late Semiha Ayverdi describes our bookbinding art and artists that we inherited as a nation as follows. Bookbinding, which opened its eyes to the world as a Central Asian art, covered the Seljuk and Ottoman centuries while continuing on its way by spreading light to Europe. The binding and the illumination decorating it were literally the shapes and colors of the artist's inner world reflected on the paper and leather. These were not pictures or shapes, but rather the artist's own words, his own voice, his own intentions and the expression of his heart. In the Muslim East, since the work on a book carries a kind of sanctity, the artist who bends over the book would work on his work with ecstasy and could not get enough of embellishing it with a kind of pleasure of worship. Yes, the art of bookbinding and bookbinding is so valuable and important to us. I also congratulate you for bringing back to life by restoring more than a thousand works in the bookbinding shop you established within our foundation. Likewise, I wholeheartedly congratulate you for your efforts to revive our almost forgotten bookbinding art.
With these thoughts, I hope that Eksim Holding's 40th anniversary, Loyalty to the Book, Bookbinding Art and Restoration Exhibition will be beneficial once again. I wholeheartedly congratulate all my brothers who contributed to the program. Once again, I greet you with love and respect, and I entrust you all to God. Thank you, live long, stay healthy.
