President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urged young people to remain strong, resolute and confident on July 31, describing them as Türkiye’s “greatest source of strength.”
Speaking at the final event of the Turkish Youth Foundation’s (TÜGVA) summer schools at RAMS Park in Istanbul, Erdoğan said young people carried society’s energy, ideals and goals from the past into the future.
“Youth is the lifeblood of this nation,” he said, adding that the strength of the younger generation was vital to the country’s future.
Erdoğan said TÜGVA’s six-week summer school program had drawn more than 700,000 participants this year, a record for the foundation. TÜGVA had reached more than 1.5 million young people through all its activities during the year, he added.
According to figures cited by Erdoğan, about 460,000 students completed Quran courses, 232,000 received tajwid instruction and more than 387,000 attended Ottoman Turkish classes.
Students also took part in sports, arts and cultural activities.
Erdoğan praised the foundation’s work with young people and thanked its instructors and volunteers.
He also criticized unnamed opponents of TÜGVA, arguing that they sought to prevent young people from connecting with their history and values.
Such efforts would not succeed, he said.
Addressing the students, Erdoğan urged them to be knowledgeable, visionary and courageous while upholding justice, conscience, compassion and wisdom.
“I want all of you to think big and dream big,” he said, calling on them to pursue their goals without giving up.
Erdoğan also sent greetings to young people in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon, saying their peers in Türkiye stood with them.
He said the government would continue supporting young people in education, technology, sports, culture and the arts, adding that he believed they would carry forward the “Century of Türkiye” vision.
The event concluded with Erdoğan joining summer school graduates for a group photo.
