11th President Abdullah Gül's Speech at AGU Graduation Ceremony for 2024-2025

Distinguished guests,

Distinguished scholars,

Dear students,

I greet you all on a beautiful summer evening. I am very happy to be here at AGU's 8^th graduation ceremony. As every year, today we are all very proud, we are all very happy, and we are all very appreciative. I would like to congratulate everyone who has contributed here. At the beginning of my remarks, I would like to congratulate the graduating students. I wish them success. As you know, you have graduated from a good university. You were given a good formation. You were provided with good knowledge. Most importantly, you were taught a very good foreign language. You will all see the benefits of this in job interviews, and you will realize that you have a great privilege because of this unique education.

Distinguished guests,

Both the Rector of the University and our esteemed Mayor Memduh Bey have said important things. One of the things that always makes a city prestigious is that it is a center of knowledge. Fortunately, Kayseri has many universities in this respect. Erciyes University has become a very well-established university. Mr. Mehmet Şahin, the former Rector of Erciyes University, has done a lot of work. I am very pleased that tonight he is among us. Other universities are on the same path, and the inclusion of AGU has made our city a land of universities.

The administrators of our city, mayors, governors other officials at all levels support the universities and our university in this regard. I am very pleased with this, because the best investment in a city is education. I would like to repeat this once again. Before I came here, I was planning to address 3-4 topics in my speech and speak briefly. Mr. Rector touched upon some of them. I was very pleased with this, because what I am going to say is a recommendation. But let me do it again.

Distinguished guests,

It has been 15 years since we founded this university. In 15 years, we have all seen together that the university has proven itself. There is no point in praising ourselves further.

Although we have the right to be proud of our achievements, I should not repeat what is already known, but the fact that this success is also seen at the international level, that it is recorded in all records, that it is included in all literature, and that the academic world knows about it, is pleasing. Of course, the fact that YÖK in Turkey appreciates the success here and that the students are satisfied with the university they study at makes us very happy, but these were not accidental. Cengiz Bey touched on this a bit. This was done with very careful consideration.

When the university was being established, our founding Rector İhsan Bey, who has never lost interest in the university even after his departure, continues to contribute to it.  Great efforts were made during the establishment phase. Search conferences were held. Meetings were held on how a good university should be. Ideas were discussed. Conferences were held. As the Rector of Türkiye at that time, I participated in some of them, and as a result, the direction and road map of a good university were drawn. That is why we are getting the results, and that is why we are all proud of it today. After nearly 1500 graduates, after 15 years, an era is over, and success has been achieved.

Now, the second recommendation I would like to make is that the university, especially the Rector and his colleagues, scholars, should sit down and evaluate all this in cold blood, and we should look at what our new road map should be from now on. Because everything is changing so fast, everything is differentiating so much; moreover, politics, administrations, the administrations of countries, the understanding of statesmen, everything is changing very fast too. Technology, as we all know, is developing in an incredible way. While the development of technology makes the world much smaller, it also opens up new horizons.

Of course, when we say that we are making the world much smaller, we also mean that we have become able to follow and watch what is going on in every corner of the world from our homes every day in the evening. And here, if I may, I would like to open a parenthesis and mention in a few sentences the events in the world that we follow with great pain and sadness. The world experienced a stable period of 10 years after 2000, but in recent years, we have been going through a very dangerous period in which international organizations and the international system have collapsed, more fragile than ever, more rule-breaking than ever, and more dangerous than ever. On the one hand, the Russian-Ukrainian war is going on and cities are being bombed, and on the other hand, an unbelievable genocide is taking place in Palestine that humanity will be ashamed of in the future. In Palestine, not only are people being killed by bombs, but also women, children, and old people are dying for a piece of bread, for a sip of water.

I am sorry to say that the Turkish press does not cover this enough. The headlines of newspapers in the US and the UK every day show how emaciated those children are and what kind of genocide Israel is committing there. I exclude those who govern the states, but the conscience of societies stands up. Civil society organizations are standing up. Thinkers, journalists are standing up to stop this atrocity, this massacre. Conscientious politicians are standing up. Last week, we commemorated the anniversary of how nearly 10,000 people starved to death in Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina 30 years ago in front of the eyes of the world.

I once went to those meetings and experienced that pain. Very important people of the world made statements. They said that this must not happen again. This shame should not happen again, and those who committed this shame, this massacre, were punished, but even this is not enough. On the one hand, we see the people who said this, the kings, presidents, prime ministers, and foreign ministers of the countries. On the other hand, unfortunately, the live broadcasting of these massacres as if they were a football match is being passed over in silence, only with statements and rhetoric. Of course, this is a great sadness and a great shame for the world. In this respect, it is important that the student from Libya, who is the valedictorian of the university, talks about these sufferings.  Had the valedictorian been a Turkish student from Turkey, I am sure that s/he would have mentioned this issue as well.

Distinguished guests,

You, as the scholars here, know best about how fast the world is changing, especially how fast technology is changing. Recently, I read an article that talked at length about how long it took for various technologies to reach 100 million people after they were invented. It attracted my attention.

As I said, you know these things better. But I would like to remind you once again, I saw the following in that article:

The telephone reached 100 million people in 75 years after it was invented. It took 33 years after the automobile was invented to reach 100 million people. The cell phone reached 100 million people 16 years after it was invented. The Internet reached 100 million people in 7 years. WhatsApp, the internet application on the phones we all have in our pockets, reached in 40 months. TikTok, also in everyone's pockets, reached 100 million people in 9 months. But what is much more striking is that 100 million people started using ChatGPT, which most of you now use, in 2 months. In other words, in a period when technology is so dizzying and developing so fast, we are no longer in an era, but we are going through a period in which such a great change is experienced just in a few months.  I am sure that the functions of universities, the educational methods are being reshaped according to the requirements of this change. New elements are emerging, and new methods are being used.

Everyone saw that a few years ago, when COVID-19 emerged, and some online opportunities were used in a hurry. As I said, you need to sit down and design how our university should be in the new era after 15 years and follow your new road map accordingly.  This will be one of the reasons for the continuity of your success. I am sure you will do this. Because we also talked about this with Mr. Rector. The last point I would like to make is the need to establish a tight network of alumni, as Cengiz Bey mentioned.

You know very well that alumni associations are very strong in the universities in the USA and Europe. And these associations see their universities as a family.  Not only do they network among themselves, but they also take care of their universities materially and morally. This does not happen spontaneously. I would like to ask you to consciously, persistently follow, create, and reinforce this with a good method. Today, some universities in the USA, especially Harvard, if they challenge the administration, the president, it is thanks to these alumni associations behind them. As you know, the material and moral solidarity is great. Therefore, we should definitely take this step. This will bring a privilege to the university, and we will set an example for other universities in this regard.

Dear students,

Congratulations on receiving your diplomas. But this is not everything. As you know, for a diploma to be valuable, first of all, those who carry that diploma must be good people.  You need to be a virtuous person so that the diploma you carry becomes even more valuable. Pay special attention to this. If you are virtuous people with personality values, you will be immediately recognized in the place where you work, in the environment you are in; otherwise, you will become ordinary people.

Again, remember that wherever there is a community of virtuous people, it adds great value to that society. If virtuous people are at the university, the university will be good. If they rule the city, the city will be good. If they rule the countries, the countries do well. If they rule workplaces and factories, those places will be successful. Therefore, this should always be in your mind throughout your life. In order to be a good family, in order to be helpful for your country, nation, and family, being a good person comes first. With all these thoughts, I congratulate you again.

I would like to congratulate and thank all of the faculty members. It is thanks to you that the university is successful, and your articles are ranked high in international indexes, which is a great success. Not only do you bring prestige to the university in this way, but you also make great contributions with the information you give to the students you educate. I would like to thank you for this. Of course, the families who raise the students with great sacrifices are also here. This is their happy moment too. I wish them every success. May you all have a good future. May Allah bless you all. May you all be happy in life. I wish you all a good evening again, wishing you to be helpful to your homeland, country, city, university, and all of humanity.