NEWS CENTER - Here are the highlights from Erdoğan's speech: Our esteemed country representatives, our esteemed teachers, my dear young brothers, I greet you with my most heartfelt feelings, respect and affection. First of all, I wish my brothers and sisters who were affected by the heavy rain, floods and floods in Antalya and Istanbul yesterday, and I pray for God's mercy on our three citizens who lost their lives. All institutions of our state, especially AFAD, work in coordination and take all precautions in the field while simultaneously giving the necessary warnings to our citizens. It is understood that it will continue today and tomorrow in different regions of our country. We want our people to carefully follow the warnings of our official institutions in order to prevent new problems.
Unfortunately, we received sad news from the system today. Our brother Üsküdar Deputy Mayor Dündar Ziya Gültekin passed away in a traffic accident in Kaynaşlı on his way to Ankara. I wish God Almighty's mercy to our brother Ziya, whose effort, sincerity and love for Üsküdar we have personally witnessed, and I offer my patience and condolences to his grieving family, relatives, AK Party community and the people of Üsküdar. May God grant him his place in heaven.
Dear brothers and sisters, I am pleased to be with you in this meaningful program organized on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Turkish Maarif Foundation. You are all welcome to our Presidential Complex, the home of the nation, Türkiye's largest library, the Nation's Library. I would especially like to express my gratitude to our dear guests and young people who participated in the program from different parts of the world. I hope that the 10th anniversary of our Turkish Maarif Foundation will be beneficial for our country, our nation, our geography and all humanity. On behalf of myself and my nation, I would like to thank all my brothers and sisters who have worked within our foundation for ten years, assumed responsibility, and brought Türkiye's educational vision to the world. Today, once again, I embrace each of my brothers and sisters who work day and night, sometimes taking risks, sometimes being separated from their families and loved ones, and sometimes feeling homesick, to present Türkiye's knowledge to the service of humanity under the umbrella of the Turkish Maarif Foundation. Here again, I kiss the eyes of each and every one of our children, who have just appealed to our hearts with special melodies.
"TODAY, OUR TURKISH MAARIF FOUNDATION OPERATES IN 6 CONTINENTS AND 66 COUNTRIES"
We just watched the promotional film together. We remembered again through what paths our foundation has come to be today. Praise be to God, our Turkish Maarif Foundation, which set out with great goals 10 years ago, today operates in 6 continents and 66 countries. Today, we congratulate once again our foundation, which provides quality and qualified education opportunities to more than 75,000 students in 611 institutions around the world. Undoubtedly, this success achieved in 10 years is a source of pride for all of us. However, for us, the issue is not just limited to numbers. Our real success is the human stories behind these numbers. What matters to us is the values we add to the lives of our children studying at Maarif Foundation schools. What really matters is the contribution of the children entrusted to us to the future of their own country as virtuous, qualified individuals with a vision and mission. For this reason, we see international education as a long-term marathon. Our Maarif Foundation offers new opportunities to children and young people living in different parts of the world, from Asia to Africa, from the Balkans to the Caucasus. It equips them with knowledge. It prepares you for life in every aspect. At the same time, it enables these children to establish strong and sincere bonds with different cultures. It brings Türkiye's educational experience to different continents with its schools, dormitories, universities, research and training centers. I wholeheartedly believe that our young people who are receiving education today will hopefully soon serve their country successfully in every field and shape the future of their country. I would especially like to express that I find it very appropriate that the 10th anniversary program is organized under the title '10 Years Building the Future'.
"WE PROVIDED ACCESS TO EDUCATION AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY"
Dear guests, this level that our Turkish Maarif Foundation has reached in 10 years is also a reflection of the historical revolution we have achieved in the field of education during our reign. We have developed our educational infrastructure in the last 24 years. We ensured access to education and equality of opportunity. We have increased our institutional capacity many times. We organized the course curriculum in line with new needs. We carried out the green and digital transformation of our schools. Thank God, we managed to reap the fruits of all this work. According to the latest PISA 2025 results, we became the country that increased its scores the most among OECD countries in the fields of science, mathematics and reading. Likewise, interest in Turkish universities in higher education has increased exponentially every year. The number of our international students, which was around 48,000 10 years ago, approached 380,000 this year. It has now become commonplace to encounter Turkish graduate doctors, politicians, business people, bureaucrats, teachers, artists and academics in the countries where you work. In many countries of the world, we come across many people who speak Turkish, know Türkiye, and follow Turkish culture with interest.
I say this with great pleasure. It is of course a great success for Turkey that we have come from a country that had forced its own children to go abroad for years due to their dress, beliefs and political views, to a country that not only provides first-class education to its own children but also attracts tens of thousands of students from abroad every year. It is the clearest symbol of the historical transformation in education. What is undoubtedly more proud is that this vision is carried to different corners of the world through our Turkish Maarif Foundation. Look, today, on the one hand, we provide quality education to more than 24 million students, from pre-school to higher education, and on the other hand, we offer the strong capacity we have built in international education to the benefit of our friends and brothers through institutions such as the Maarif Foundation. This, frankly, is a success that was unimaginable 25 years ago. Those who target our Maarif Foundation may not know what this means. But we and you know very well what this vision corresponds to.
"Türkiye IS A GLOBAL PLAYER"
Even though those who look at the world and Türkiye from other people's perspectives still haven't realized it, our country is a global player today. We are now in a new league, not only in the defense industry, not only in diplomacy, tourism, foreign trade, but also in terms of international education vision. Hopefully, we will continue to rise in this league with your efforts.
"WE ARE A NATION WITHOUT THE SHAME OF COLONIALISM IN ITS HISTORY"
My dear friends, I believe it is useful to emphasize this here. We do not have a unilateral approach in any of our activities within either the Turkish Maarif Foundation or Yunus Emre Institute. On the contrary, we are aware that every country has its own history, language, culture and educational tradition. We carry out our work around these principles. I always say, look, we are a nation that has no shame of colonialism in its history. For a while, we ruled over an area of 24 million square kilometers. Today, there are more than 45 countries on the lands we directly govern. Since our ancestors did not interfere with people's language, culture and customs, they preserved their own identities. However, the societies that fell into the clutches of Western imperialists have suffered great suffering and cultural genocide. Today, hundreds of local languages have disappeared in the regions governed by countries that preach pluralism and respect for differences without looking at their own past. Cultural traces were destroyed. Social memory has been erased. Customs that have lived among the local people for centuries have become museum items. I believe many of you have seen this in the countries you served. But, as stated in the 22nd verse of the Surah Ar-Rum, we accept the difference in colors and languages as a manifestation of the infinite power of Allah Almighty in His creation. Therefore, we are not interested in anyone's language, culture, skin color, ethnic origin, disposition or sect. We love the Creator, we say "because of the Creator", we do not distinguish any person from another on earth, we do not look down on anyone. We act with the same sensitivity today as we did yesterday. At Maarif schools, we take into consideration the education legislation, curriculum and cultural characteristics of the host countries. We see Turkish not as a substitute for other languages, but as a tool that opens new doors and brings new horizons to people. I hope we will preserve this approach until the end, which makes us who we are, what makes us different, and what separates us from others.
"FETO SERVED IMPERIALISM AND WAS A SERVITOR OF ZIONISM"
Dear guests, our goal of providing a strong, reliable and corporate structure for our country's educational activities abroad played a leading role in the establishment of our Turkish Maarif Foundation 10 years ago. It was among the duties and responsibilities of our foundation to overcome the problems caused by FETO's educational structure abroad with the least damage. As you know, FETO has used the schools it opened in different countries over the years to develop its own structure, recruit members for the organization, obtain economic opportunities and gain international influence. Moreover, this treason network tried to do all this by giving the impression that it was acting on behalf of Türkiye. They were fed from Türkiye. They exploited the good will and magnanimity of our nation. But they served global imperialism. They served as servants to Zionism.
"WE FOCUSED ON DESTROYING THE NESTS OF DISSITMENT OPERATED BY FETO UNDER THE MASK OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS"
After July 15, we accelerated the all-out fight against FETO. While we cut down the organization's limbs within our country, we focused on dismantling the nests of discord that it operates under the guise of educational institutions abroad. Thanks to the intensive efforts of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, our Maarif Foundation and other institutions, we have achieved the full or partial closure of FETO-affiliated schools in more than 50 countries. Our Turkish Maarif Foundation assumed important responsibilities in the takeover of educational institutions belonging to FETO. We showed utmost sensitivity to ensure that the students in these schools were not victimized and their education was not interrupted. As a result of our joint efforts, we have come a long way in a very short time. FETO, which in the past used Türkiye's image and reputation in different parts of the world as a shield of legitimacy for its dirty and dark ambitions, is not even mentioned in many countries today. With the new confessions triggered by conflicts of interest within the organization, our foreign friends began to see the true face of this slanderous organization. Tomorrow they will be much more pathetic, much more miserable.
