Turkey will ensure any opinion could be freely discussed at universities: Erdoğan

ISTANBUL

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on May 20 that Turkey would ensure that any opinion could be freely discussed at universities, as long as it did not serve terrorism, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of Ibn Haldun University in Istanbul's Haliç Congress Center, President Erdoğan said that the government's struggle is against those who openly support and speak for terrorism.

"Our struggle is not against different ideologies, our struggle is against terror and terror groups," he said.

Erdoğan said that no civilized country in the world would allow terror groups to nest in universities nor transform universities into training camps for the groups.

"Weapons, molotov cocktails and violence can never be a means to seek rights," Erdoğan said.

Erdoğan also stressed that 14 years were spent countering ideologies which banned students from enrolling at universities based on their clothing and appearance.

"There are no longer any tearful students who are turned back from the doors of universities due their clothing," Erdoğan said.

Erdoğan said that those who ostracized others based on their ideologies in the past in Turkey, are accusing the current Turkish government of being against the freedom of speech.

Meanwhile, Rachid Ghannouchi, the leader of Tunisia's Ennahda movement, was also present at the symposium. 

Ghannouchi’s speech, like Erdoğan’s, highlighted Ibn Haldun's contributions to scholarship. 

Ibn Haldun, a 14th-century North African and Arab historian, is considered a forerunner of sociology and demography. 

Erdoğan and Ghannouchi also had a one-hour closed-door meeting at the congress center.