President Erdoğan addresses youth at 'A Youth Festival' program: We have paved the way for our youth

Here are the highlights from President Erdoğan's remarks:

I welcome all our guests who have joined our program from the youth organizations of friendly and brotherly countries, along with our young people who have added color to our festival from all four corners of Turkey. In your person, I greet with love the bright faces of Turkey, all the youth who are the pride and apple of the eye of this great nation, and the young hearts who will be the architects of the Century of Turkey.

Likewise, I send my affection to the young members of the Turkish diaspora who proudly wave our flag in every corner of the world—in Europe, America, Asia, and Africa—and who are the brightest symbols of our nation's presence abroad with their achievements. I convey my greetings from here to all my young brothers and sisters who weave our cultural and spiritual geography like embroidery, and whose prayers, support, and hearts are with us.

I THANK EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU

I thank each and every one of you for this love and affection that transcends cities, countries, and continents; for your enthusiasm that knows no bounds in friendship and brotherhood, overflowing from stadiums just as it is here today, and for this unique picture of unity and solidarity.

THE HEART OF OUR 81 PROVINCES IS BEATING HERE TODAY

I feel great excitement to be with you, our youth. Today, the heart of our 81 provinces is beating here. The pulse of our nation and civilization is beating here. The dawn of the great and powerful Turkey we dream of is breaking right here.

For a full thousand years, the sacred spirits of our martyrs who shed their blessed blood on this soil for the call to prayer, the flag, the homeland, and the nation; our veterans who are symbols of courage and paid the price for our independence and future; and all our ancestors from Alp Arslan to I. Kılıç Arslan, from Fatih Sultan Mehmed to Yavuz Sultan Selim, from Saladin to II. Abdülhamid, are, I hope, rejoicing and being remembered right now through your upright stance and hope-filled brightness.

As the pioneering soldiers of the TEKNOFEST generation, you are attaining the good news of our late teacher Nurettin Topçu today: “The spirit of Fatih, standing right between the Omars and the Akifs, continues in our body in reality.” We feel this.

I SEE A YOUTH WITH A VISION

Right now, I see before me a determined youth who carries the accumulation of the past to the present and shoulders the future of Turkey with all their might. Right now, I see before me a youth with a vision who speaks new words to the world, draws attention, and voices justice and truth.

I feel a compassionate youth who feels the sorrow of the oppressed, the victimized, and their tearful brothers and sisters in their hearts, from Gaza to Sudan, from Somalia to Yemen.

Right now, I see before me a youth who rushed to the aid of their nation on the night of the earthquake, who stayed up all night in the fire zones, and who shares the troubles of the nation. Right now, I see before me a conscientious youth, a conscious youth, a youth possessing faith, comprehension, insight, and wisdom.

The spirit of the blessed cities will awaken. The spirits of Bursa, Istanbul, Konya, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Damascus, Baghdad, Samarkand, Mecca, Medina, and along with all of them, Cairo and Islamabad will be revived.

I see those children before me right now who will lift these cities up and awaken those who are asleep. Praise be to the Almighty God for granting us the opportunity to walk this path with this youth who loves us with an 'AK' (pure/white) love.

THE MOST VALUABLE LINK IN THE CHAIN IS THE YOUTH

May the Lord always keep your path and fortune open. Youth is the breaking of the dams of the heart. Youth is a dream, excitement, and dynamism. Society draws its energy from the youth. The most valuable link in the chain extending from the individual to the family, from the family to the nation, and from the nation to the state is the youth.

When we take a look at our history, we can see this truth very clearly. Whenever the youth raised in the bosom of this nation have taken responsibility, the family has strengthened and the state has attained its true mission. You see this in Fatih, who conquered not only Istanbul but also hearts. It is always the youth who have raised the banner of independence by taking on the most difficult responsibilities at the sharpest turns. You see this spirit in Malazgirt, in Çanakkale, in the War of Independence, and in the repelling of the July 15 betrayal.

WE LIVED THROUGH DAYS WHEN THE FUTURE OF THE YOUTH WAS DARKENED

Whenever the youth have been divided into groups among themselves, fallen into traps, succumbed to provocations, and distanced themselves from their values, the most painful periods of our history have been experienced during those times.

They pitted the youth of this country against each other. We lived through days when people were deprived of their right to education and work, forced to resign, and had their futures darkened simply because of their headscarves, beards, or clothing.

As the AK Party, from the very first day we took over the responsibility of governing the country, we have strived for Turkey to reach the place it deserves.

The days when it was a condition to have a certain style of dress or worldview to attend university or serve in the public sector are now behind us. Without discriminating between rich and poor, urban and rural, Easterner and Westerner, we have fully ensured equality of opportunity among the children of this country. And of course, we have made the greatest investment in our youth. By lowering the age of eligibility for election to 18, we have shown the trust we have in our youth very clearly. We have taken politics out of the hands of narrow cadres and paved the way for our youth in culture, art, politics, and sports.

News Source: 12punto