15th July Democracy and National Unity Day was Commemorated with Comprehensive Events at MAKU

As part of the activities, the 15th July Coup Attempt Photo Exhibition and the National Poet Mehmet Akif Ersoy Memorial and Photo Exhibition were opened for visit at the MAKU Prof. Dr. İlhan Varank Library.

Then, the National Will and 15 July Conferences were held. The program started with a moment of silence and the reading of the National Anthem, followed by a recitation of the Quran and a prayer for the martyrs of July 15 by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nurettin Çalışkan, a faculty member of the Faculty of Theology. 

There are Aspects of the 15th July Epic that Resemble the Çanakkale Epic

In his opening speech, Rector Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Dalgar emphasized that a dark stain was written in both human history and our country's history in the 21st century, and said: “There is an aspect of the 15th July Epic that is likened to the Çanakkale Epic 100 years ago. The most striking aspect is this. Just as our people stood by their state with all their means and fought in Çanakkale, a similar act of heroism was demonstrated on July 15. The Turkish nation has once again shown that it cannot be easily surrendered to coups and internal turmoil, and that the Turkish nation is a society that always stands by its state when necessary. This aspect has a very meaningful dimension. Lessons must be learned from here to prevent the repetition of July 15. I think it is very important for us to remind and convey this issue to prevent such an attempt at genocide on democracy from happening again for future generations. 

Turkey's Greatest Strength is Being Able to Stay Together in Every Era Without Allowing Divisions

As a university, we need to convey very well that we have always been on the side of the nation's will and the state, as institutions on the side of knowledge, as has been the case throughout history. We all need to work very hard. Both for the development of democracy and for the development of our country, we need to make a lot of effort.  We all have responsibilities to carry this homeland forward as a legacy of 252 citizens who were martyred on July 15. We as a university feel this way. We have to be a strong country, stand tall, and be able to help the oppressed and say stop to the oppressors, not only against our 35,000 students we have, but also against the society we live in, our geography. Otherwise, we see the oppressions done to Muslims, to Turks. It saddens us very much that we cannot do anything against the massacre in Palestine. I hope that our country will be a much stronger country in the future. In my opinion, Turkey's greatest strength is being able to stay together in every era without allowing divisions. It has been able to come together in difficult times. We saw this again on July 15. The ideal Muslim Turkish youth, whom we proudly bear his name, Mehmet Akif Ersoy, describes it as Asım's Generation and says: "Asım's generation... I was saying... it's a real generation: Here, it did not let its honor be trampled, it will not let it be trampled". On July 15, the Muslim Turkish youth, whom we describe as Asım's generation, did not let their honor be trampled, and they will not let it be trampled from now on. I wish all our martyrs mercy from Allah, and long lives to our veterans. I sincerely congratulate our nation, who took to the streets with a word from our president, who we see as the head of the state, regardless of their views, and who defended their country, especially our president who demonstrated this strong will. 

The Cost of the Coups that Occurred in Our History to Our Nation Has Been Very Heavy

After the opening speech, a presentation titled "Coups in Turkey and Their Cost" was made by Prof. Dr. Zafer Gölen, Faculty Member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences History Department and Director of Mehmet Akif Ersoy Application and Research Center. Sharing information about the development processes and results of the coups, Gölen talked about the burden the July 15 coup attempt brought to the economy and said, “According to the calculations made, it is said that the direct effect of the coup attempt corresponds to approximately 2,821 dollars per person, and when indirect effects are also calculated, it is approximately 460 billion dollars. If there had been no coup attempt, it could have been easily achieved that Turkey's per capita national income would be over 15,000 dollars. The solution is to strengthen Turkish democracy, increase social welfare, and reduce income inequality to the lowest possible level. As Atatürk said, 'We need only one thing to be hardworking', this word needs to be fulfilled and our country needs to be raised above the level of contemporary civilizations.”

There are Lessons to be Learned from What Happened on July 15

Prof. Dr. Yasin Pişgin, Dean of the Faculty of Theology, took the stage with his speech titled "15 July Spirit: Witness, Martyr and Martyrdom", and talked about the perspective, beliefs, lifestyle and martyrdom spirit of the July 15 martyrs. In his speech, Pişgin referred to the stories of our citizens who became martyrs and veterans on the night of the coup attempt, and discussed the concepts of martyrdom and martyrdom from a theological perspective. At the end of a very effective speech, he stated that there are lessons to be learned from July 15 and that it should never be forgotten. 

The program ended with Rector Dalgar presenting certificates of appreciation to the speakers.