AKP government's first Justice Minister Çiçek: We are ignoring the blessings and achievements of this Republic as if we were spending an inheritance

Cemil Çiçek, who was the first Justice Minister of the AKP government and is a former Parliament Speaker and member of the Presidential High Advisory Board, said, "If I can speak before you today, and if I have been able to contribute even a little to such services, I owe it to the Republic. That is why I find unnecessary and misplaced debates about the Republic to be troublesome and problematic for this country. The third is democracy. If there is no democracy, other kinds of troubles will follow one after another."

Speaking at the ceremony, which was also attended by Yozgat Governor Mehmet Ali Özkan, Yozgat Mayor Kazım Arslan, and provincial and district protocol members, Deputy Minister of National Education Muhammet Bilal Macit stated, “Today, in education, we are in the same lane as the world's most developed countries in terms of the number of students per teacher and the number of classrooms per student.

We are one of the rare countries where all schools with smart boards also have internet access. According to international indices, specifically the TIMSS results published most recently in 2024, we have surpassed countries that were always held up as examples to us, such as Finland, South Korea, England, Germany, and France. Why am I saying this? Thank God, as Turkey, we now possess every kind of opportunity," he said.

Starting his remarks by touching upon the importance of education, Çiçek noted the following:

"Almost all of the problems we experience in this country stem from either not receiving the right education or from inadequate education. The solution does not lie in this party or that political view or whatever else, but first and foremost in putting education on the right track. If we cannot organize the business of education, believe me, this country will face and will continue to face difficulties in many areas. Therefore, the work being done is correct. Increasing the number of vocational high schools is correct.

Educating our people in this manner is, in my opinion, the most correct choice. I am not saying this just theoretically. Due to my duties, I have officially traveled to a very significant portion of 193 countries, nearly three-quarters of them. I have seen what is where... When you observe to some extent why some countries are developed and why others are not, the point I see is this.

The populations are similar, but one is among the seven developed countries because it educates its people well and provides very good education. It is also one of the three most economically developed countries in the world. There is another country in the middle of Africa. God has given it everything in terms of wealth. There is oil. There is natural gas. If you planted a willow tree here, it would grow by the next year. It has fertile soil capable of producing two or three crops. It also has a very young population.

But despite this, it is a third-world country; I am talking about Nigeria, with all that oil and all that natural gas in the capital, Abuja. In the capital, Abuja, the electricity is cut for seven hours a day. The reason? It has an uneducated population. A dry crowd. But which is the first country? That is Japan. It imports 95 percent of everything it eats, drinks, buys, and sells. There is no land. The most important measure there is longing; we all have a longing, don't we? Oh, if only I had this or that; for those who do it, the greatest longing—the phrase belongs to them—is 'if only I had a piece of land the size of a cat.'

It has no land; everywhere is stone and rock. To be able to inhabit it, they fill in the oceans. They fill in the ocean to build an airport. But despite this, it is one of the 7 developed countries in the world, and its economic size is five or six times Turkey's national income. What is the difference? It stems from having educated its people well. Today, most of our homes have a product manufactured by the Japanese; there is definitely an industrial product.

Let us have political debates; these happen in democracies and they will continue. But if we are going to have the debate on the right ground, I am saying this very clearly: What will determine Turkey's place in the ranking of 193 countries in the coming days, in the coming time, in the coming Century of Turkey, is our level of education and the point our education has reached. If we cannot fix this, no matter what we say, we will continue to spin our wheels where we are. That is why we need to educate our people well."

Emphasizing that the achievements of the Republic must be protected, Çiçek continued his words:

"There is one more thing that should not be forgotten. We always say it. Now, we are citizens of a state like the Republic of Turkey. Therefore, we must know very well how this state was founded. Yes, we have highways, we have airports, we have developed so much in industry, and so on. But when we are not aware of three things, we will have considered many things to be missing. That is this, in the last century; one of these is the national struggle.

In every meeting, it is our duty to pray for the mercy of our elders who won this struggle, who made us win it, and who made this geography our homeland, starting with Atatürk, all our martyrs, our religious and state leaders, and our teachers. We must not forget this. As if this homeland was won haphazardly. As if it was obtained so easily. We are ignoring this Republic, the blessings and achievements of the Republic, as if we were spending an inheritance. One of them is this. We must teach this well to our children. Therefore, the first thing we must know is the national struggle. The second is the Republic. If I can speak before you today, and if I have been able to contribute even a little to such services, I owe it to the Republic. That is why I find unnecessary and misplaced debates about the Republic to be troublesome and problematic for this country. The third is democracy. If there is no democracy, other kinds of troubles will follow one after another."

Following the speeches, the opening of the Boğazlıyan Cemil Çiçek Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School was held. In the building, which has 14 classrooms, a food technology laboratory, a first aid room, and a conference hall, 250 students will receive education in the fields of Food Technology, Health Sciences, and Nursing Assistance with 20 teachers.