President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his happiness to meet with teachers during this speech at the reception held in the Presidential Beştepe Exhibition Hall.

 

"Welcome to the Presidential Complex, the home of the nation. I wish that November 24 will be blessed for all teachers, our country and nation. I want to thank all teachers on behalf of my wife and all people" said Erdoğan.

 

President Erdoğan commemorated all teachers martyred during terror attacks including Arzu Özsoy who died during a bomb attack in İstiklal Street and Ayşenur Alkan who died as a result of rocket attack in Karkamış.

 

Stating that they consider the Martyr Teacher Monument as a modest token of gratitude to teachers, Erdoğan said that, "We will never forget the memory of 191 heroes whose names are written to the history of national education due to their sacrifices. Similarly, we will continue to take the revenge of every blood of our martyrs."

  

President Erdoğan stressed that they have prioritized education since they came into power adding that they assume to reflect the expanding opportunities and conditions of Türkiye to teachers first as a duty.

 

President Erdoğan went on to say that: "For the last twenty years, we have taken many historical steps in order to support teachers to work with peace of mind and heart. We have inaugurated many education institutions in all levels of education varying from kindergarten to primary school, from secondary school to high school and university in all 81 cities of the country. We have doubled the number of classrooms and solved the overcrowded classroom issue which was a problem for many years. I studied in a classroom with 75 students and I remember that there are 120 students in some classrooms. Now, this figure has dropped to 20 students. It did not happen out of the blue; it was the result of our efforts and determination. We did not wish the next generation to suffer the problems we faced and we wish them to study in an ideal environment. Number of teachers per student figure decreased from 28 to 15 in primary education and it decreased from 18 to 13 in secondary education."

 

President Erdoğan stated that schools are repaired and renewed from their sports complexes to libraries and equipped with modern devices such as smart boards to modern lab equipment adding that they never neglected teachers while reinforcing the education infrastructure of the country.

 

Meanwhile, Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer thanked President Erdoğan for receiving them in the Presidential complex and congratulated the November 24 Teachers' Day of 1.2 million teachers who are working in the education system under the leadership of President Erdoğan.

 

"I would like to commemorate Ayşenur Alkan who took all students to the shelter during the terror attack and martyred when she returned to see if there is any student left in the school. I commemorate teacher Arzu who died during a bomb attack in the İstiklal Street a week ago. I also commemorate all martyred teachers who sacrificed their lives for a stronger country despite all internal and external vicious attempts," said Özer.

 

Citing author Alev Alatlı's "Fesüphanallah" novel, Özer stated that, "If you must compare our beloved country to something, compare it with a blackberry bush that continues to grow from all its branches. It keeps blooming and giving fruit even if some its branches dry out. Do not forget that it is not possible to understand our country with a simple mind; Türkiye has its own original identity. It will never sink. If it does, the oceans will flood."