In his speech at the Gaziantep University 2026-2027 Academic Year Opening Ceremony held at Mavera Congress and Art Center, Kurtulmuş wished the new academic year to be beneficial.
Stating that they visited many universities in Türkiye, Kurtulmuş said:
"We have left the first century of our Republic's history behind. We have achieved many successes in this first century, we have faced many difficulties, we have overcome many troubles. But we can easily say that the most important issue of the first century of the Republic is that, unfortunately, this beloved nation and this great nation has been occupied with the scourge of terrorism. The issue of terrorism, which took us nearly 50 years, has been a complete shackle on Türkiye's feet and unfortunately, tens of thousands of people died in Türkiye and thousands of our children were martyred." "And it has caused us to bear a cost of over 2 trillion dollars in the most modest figure."
Kurtulmuş stated that Türkiye brought together the mind of the state and the mind of the nation to get rid of the terrorism issue.
Stating that Türkiye has taken important steps to get rid of terrorism, Kurtulmuş continued as follows:
"I would like to ask the following question: Why did Turkey take a step on this issue now, even though it has been struggling for 50 years? Why did it choose such a path and start a determined struggle to get rid of terrorism? Again, we all know that in the periods of our Republic's history, especially our multi-party political life, many political leaders made great efforts to leave this issue behind. Counting the late Özal, the late Erbakan, and even the late Ecevit, many people made efforts to solve this problem, but they could not. "We can easily say that they could not succeed... Because the internal and external circles of the period did not allow this issue to end."
Stating that Türkiye has made important efforts to complete the process, Kurtulmuş said that many parties contributed to the process.
"IT HAS BECOME A SERIOUS STATE POLICY"
Stating that Türkiye will now deal with other issues, Kurtulmuş continued his speech as follows:
"Later, it became clear as daylight how FETO members, especially FETO members within the police, intelligence and other elements, undermined that process. Now, thank God, different opportunities have appeared before us, and here, above all, the state mind and the nation's conscience came together and a determined stance was taken to solve this problem. This will, put forward under the leadership of our President, turned into an extremely serious state policy and step by step we came to this point of the process. In this process, there is no doubt that our President came together." "The effective and encompassing leadership of the Nationalist Movement Party, the determined stance of the Chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party, Mr. Devlet Bahçeli, and the guiding advice at the points where it was blocked, and the positive contributions of the leaders and managers of all other political parties to the problem, have been instrumental in reaching this point."
Expressing that a strong social climate has been created to solve the terrorism problem, Kurtulmuş said that segments of the society with different political views have shown the will to make efforts to end the issue.
Stating that the mind of the state and the conscience of the society may not always come together, Kurtulmuş said:
"We see together that this climate has gradually increased and become more positive since the beginning of the process until today. This is probably one of the most important reasons. Another important reason is the fact that the developments around us and in the world no longer allow Türkiye to be a country struggling with its own internal issues. In an environment where almost all the world's great powers are fighting each other in the Balkans, Caucasus, Black Sea, Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East regions, and almost all the armies of the world physically come to that region, Türkiye has both feet in this region." "Turkey has no choice but to stand firm. Therefore, Turkey has had to fortify its inner castle, especially due to the developments in this region and, as just stated, Israel's extraordinary efforts to destabilize the entire region using Gaza as an excuse for the last 3 years and its attitude that threatens all the countries in its region. We no longer have the luxury to waste even a single penny of Türkiye's money on the fight against terrorism."
Kurtulmuş stated that everyone in Türkiye should act as a unit on the issue of a Terror-Free Türkiye.
Stating that with the Terror-Free Türkiye process, the establishment of a terrorist-free zone will be ensured and the people of the region will work in unity, solidarity and brotherhood, Kurtulmuş said:
"One of the important elements behind the success of this process was an extraordinarily successful process management. Steps were taken on two important issues, which will be the source of pride for Turkish democracy. One of these was the National Solidarity, Fraternity and Democracy Commission, which was established with the participation of all parties in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. 50 of our friends served in this commission. All political parties, believe me, you watched it too, 21 meetings were held. In those meetings that lasted hours, their ideas were Even members of parties far from each other came. They expressed their opinions on this issue and contributed. Non-governmental organizations from almost all social segments and regions of Türkiye came together and made great contributions. In the end, the report was accepted almost unanimously, with the votes of 47 of the 50 MPs. This is almost a first in terms of being an example of deliberative democracy in Türkiye. It is the only example where he can meet and get results."
Kurtulmuş thanked those who served and supported the National Solidarity, Fraternity and Democracy Commission regarding the terrorism-free Türkiye process and stated that they expressed their gratitude on behalf of the Turkish nation.
Kurtulmuş used the following statements:
"The second important step in this process is the law passed in the Turkish Grand National Assembly on August 10 to fulfill the requirements of the process. This law was prepared in an extremely meticulous manner and was accepted by the votes of 467 deputies in the Turkish Grand National Assembly, deputies from every party except one. This is a record in the history of our Republic. Such a great alliance has never been achieved. This shows that: At the end of a successful process management with the positive and truly well-intentioned contributions of everyone in the process, a report was prepared and emerged as a road map." "The law that was required by the report was passed and the process was paved. The report was the opening of the door. A new door has been opened before us. This door is the door of peace, brotherhood, unity, solidarity and development together with the people of all countries, and I hope we will walk this path until the end."
