At the meeting, education and culture areas, as well as regional developments, were discussed.

Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun made a written statement after the meeting, which was closed to the press and lasted 3.5 hours, at the Presidential Complex.

Reporting that at the meeting, President Erdoğan stated Turkey’s issue of education to also be an issue of civilization, Altun continued as:

“Our President stated at the meeting that the education issue was also an issue of civilization in our country, and indicated that people of science, art and ideas had important responsibilities for the proper implementation of our own vision of civilization.

Our President also pointed out that Turkey's close geography was the center of global power struggle, and expressed that in such an environment, our country would remain firm on a foreign policy that is with principles, fair, uncompromising and solution-oriented.”

Director of Communications Altun noted that during the meeting, it was emphasized that education was what carried civilization forward and steps to be taken were addressed that would facilitate the achievement of the desired progress in the domains of education and culture. Stating that during the meeting it was underlined that Turkey was to move toward realizing its goals in all fields, adopting a principle of “innovation inspired by tradition other than 'me-tooism'“, Altun said that opinions were voiced with regard to establishing a common ground with the support and contribution of everybody in the journey of civilization.

Noting that during the meeting it was stated that it would not be possible to think of the Syria conflict, the Libya crisis, the Yemen War, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the developments in East Turkestan to be independent of the global power competition, Altun made the following remarks:

“It was expressed during the meeting that Turkey never remained silent to any persecution or oppression; that Turkey showed the extent to which it could afford to defend the rights of its kins and brothers and sisters with the steps taken recently in Syria, Libya, Cyprus and Nagorno-Karabakh; that efforts were being exerted to remedy the problems of the Uighur Turks; and that Turkey continued its efforts in foreign policy for the settlement of problems by maintaining a calm, prudential, and sincere stance.”

Also, in attendance were Board Members İsmail Kahraman, Bülent Arınç, Cemil Çiçek, Köksal Toptan, Mehmet Ali Şahin, Yıldırım Akbulut, Director of Administrative Affairs of the Presidency Metin Kıratlı, Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun, and Chief of the Cabinet to the President Hasan Doğan. (ILKHA)