Minister of Internal Affairs Mustafa Çiftçi gave a speech at the “Disaster Ready University, Disaster Ready Türkiye” program.

“COMMON DETERMINATION AGAINST DISASTER”

Minister Çiftçi, who started his speech by congratulating the month of Ramadan, emphasized that natural disasters cannot be completely prevented, but it is possible to reduce their devastating effects. Reminding that Türkiye frequently faces disasters such as earthquakes, floods, landslides and fires, Çiftçi said, “We have to strengthen our preparedness capacity against disasters in every sense, raise awareness and create risk reduction strategies.” Stating that the earthquakes that occurred on February 6, 2023 and were remembered as the “disaster of the century” caused heavy losses, Çiftçi stated that disaster management is not a process that can be started at the time of crisis and said: “Disaster management is a process that starts before a disaster occurs and whose negative effects will be minimized with science, education and planning.”

“GREAT CONTRIBUTION TO OUR DISASTER MANAGEMENT PROCESSES”

Minister Çiftçi stated that all institutions of the state and the nation demonstrated a great example of struggle with the spirit of solidarity and said that the difficulties were overcome under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Emphasizing that the signed protocol will strengthen the preparedness capacity for disasters and emergencies, Çiftçi said, “It will make a great contribution to our disaster management processes from primary education to universities.”

DISASTER THEMED COURSES WILL BE COMMON IN UNIVERSITIES

Explaining that within the scope of the protocol, the opening of courses and modules in the fields of disaster management, risk reduction and volunteering will be encouraged in universities, Çiftçi stated that disaster-themed elective courses in different disciplines will be expanded. Stating that scientific knowledge will be put into practice through postgraduate thesis studies and joint R&D projects, Çiftçi stated that they have adopted a multidisciplinary approach to disaster management. “We do not see disaster management as a pure engineering field. We act with a multidisciplinary approach, from sociology to psychology, from communication to city planning,” he said.

AFAD VOLUNTEERING SYSTEM WILL BE STRENGTHENED IN UNIVERSITIES

Emphasizing that one of AFAD’s greatest strengths is volunteers, Minister Çiftçi announced that student communities compatible with the AFAD Volunteer System will be established in universities. Stating that students participating in these communities will be given a certificate of participation and a certificate, Çiftçi said that it is aimed to conduct drills at least once a year on university campuses. Çiftçi said, “Field applications and simulations will make the effect of the training stronger. A person who knows what, where, how and when to intervene will be instrumental in saving a life.”

DIGITAL AWARENESS AND EDUCATION AT AN EARLY AGE

Minister Çiftçi stated that the Hazım.gov.tr ​​web page will be actively used in order to spread disaster awareness in the digital environment. Referring to the “A Disaster Awareness Teacher for Every School” project carried out with the Ministry of National Education, Çiftçi said that raising disaster awareness from an early age is among the priority targets. “This awareness, which started in primary school, will gain a more systematic and institutional structure at the university,” he said.

“DISASTER RESISTANCE IS ESSENTIAL FOR A STRONG Türkiye”

Stating that the state has a great responsibility in combating disasters, but social awareness is also of vital importance, Çiftçi said, “When the power of our state and the awareness of our nation come together, the resistance of the century in combating disasters emerges.” At the end of his speech, Minister of Internal Affairs Mustafa Çiftçi wished that the cooperation protocol would be beneficial and greeted the participants, wishing that the month of Ramadan would lead to unity, brotherhood and solidarity.

“WE GIVE GAME PROVIDERS A 6-MONTH PERIOD”

Usta said that changes will be made in the Law on the Regulation of Publications Made on the Internet and Combating Crimes Committed through These Publications, and continued as follows:

“In this law, we impose obligations on the newly defined game provider and game distributor actors to rate games according to age, not to offer games that cannot be rated, to appoint a representative in Türkiye to game distributors with an access volume of more than 100 thousand, to provide parental control tools, and to provide the information requested by the institution. We will allow a period of 6 months for the regulations to be made regarding these platforms. We are giving a period of 6 months for the proposal, which includes the regulations on social media and game platforms for children under the age of 15, to come into force. Here, both our and our “We will put it into effect within 6 months for BTK, Cyber Security Agency, social network providers and game servers who are the addressees of the e-Government system.”

Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu had an iftar meal with employees at the Delice-Çorum construction site of the Ankara-Kırıkkale (Delice)-Çorum-Samsun High Speed ​​Train line. AK Party Çorum Deputy Yusuf Ahlatçı, Çorum Governor Ali Çalgan, General Manager of Highways Ahmet Gülşen, TCDD General Manager Veysi Kurt, AK Party Provincial Chairman Yakup Alar, representatives of non-governmental organizations, representatives of public institutions and organizations and employees attended the iftar dinner.

WE ARE PLANNING TO REDUCE THE TRAVEL TIME BETWEEN ANKARA AND ISTANBUL TO 80 MINUTES

Addressing the workers after the iftar program, Minister Uraloğlu emphasized that they started mobilization in the railways to turn Türkiye’s geographical location into an economic advantage. Uraloğlu said, “Under the leadership of our President, we started a new era in railways so that the opportunities provided by the geographical location of our country, which serves as a bridge between Asia and Europe, can be transformed into economic and commercial advantages. In 2002, we added approximately 3 thousand kilometers, 2 thousand 251 kilometers of which are YHT, to our railway length, which was approximately 11 thousand kilometers, and increased it to 13 thousand 919 km. Together with our line that brings us together; Halkalı-Kapıkule, “We continue the construction of very important railway projects such as Ankara-İzmir, Bandırma-Bursa-Yenişehir-Osmaneli, Mersin-Adana-Osmaniye-Gaziantep and Yerköy-Kayseri High Speed ​​Train Lines. In addition, the Ankara-Istanbul Super High Speed ​​Train Line project is on our agenda. We plan to reduce the travel time between Ankara and Istanbul to 80 minutes with our trains reaching a speed of 350 kilometers per hour.”

ISTANBUL’S TWO AIRPORTS ARE CONNECTED BY RAILS

Referring to the Northern Ring Railway Project, which will relieve Istanbul traffic and logistics, Minister Uraloğlu said, “We are on the verge of a new historical step, especially with the Northern Ring Railway Project. This strategic line, which will pass through the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, will start from Gebze and continue through Sabiha Gökçen Airport, the bridge, Istanbul Airport and Çatalca. This line, with a total length of 125 kilometers, will relieve the freight and passenger traffic on Marmaray, and will directly connect the two major airports of Istanbul for the first time.” For this project, which has attracted great interest in the international arena, we have reached a preliminary agreement with 6 prestigious financial institutions, including the World Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, OPEC International Development Fund and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. This agreement, which will provide a total of 6.75 billion dollars of financing, also bears the title of Türkiye’s largest externally financed railway project. The tender announcement was published in the Official Gazette last week, following the tender process. “With the completion of the line, we will reach a capacity of 33 million passengers and 30 million tons of freight per year. Undoubtedly, this line will open a new era in railway transportation between Asia and Europe,” he said.

OUR ECONOMIC STATUS WILL BE STRENGTHENED THROUGH DEVELOPMENT

Stating that the construction of new lines, infrastructure development and modernization works are continuing at full speed to strengthen international railway connections, Minister Uraloğlu said the following;

“We are implementing new lines that will support the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway Line, which we put into service in 2017. Our 224-kilometer Kars-Iğdır-Aralık-Dilucu Railway project, which supports the Zengezur Corridor, which will open a second gate in our country via the Central Corridor, is also progressing successfully. We continue our international cooperation efforts in the Development Road project, which will carry cargo from China, East Asia and India to Europe via the FAW Port in the Persian Gulf. New “We will further strengthen the economic and geopolitical status of our country with the Development Road Project, which we describe as the Silk Road.”

ÇORUM IS GETTING A RAILWAY FOR THE FIRST TIME

Sharing the latest status of the work on the Kırıkkale-Çorum-Samsun line, Minister Uraloğlu said, “We are currently at the heart of one of Türkiye’s most important railway projects. As you know, our Kırıkkale-Çorum-Samsun line goes down in history as the first high-speed train passenger transportation project to the north of Türkiye when we consider Ankara-centered. Our Ankara-Konya and Konya-Karaman high-speed train lines have been serving our citizens for many years. The following lines of these lines, Karaman-Ulukışla And the construction of our Mersin-Adana-Osmaniye-Gaziantep high-speed train lines continues. This line, which is progressing with your efforts, is not only a transportation route extending from Ankara to Samsun and the Black Sea, but also rises as a bridge of civilization that will strengthen our brotherhood, relieve our homesickness and increase the prosperity of our region. Especially during religious holidays where spirituality reaches its peak, such as the upcoming Eid al-Fitr, increasing traffic on Kırıkkale, Delice and Çorum routes. We are implementing the 120 kilometer Delice – Çorum section of the 293 kilometer new high speed train line, which will start from Delice and pass through Çorum and Merzifon, working day and night with 3 thousand personnel and 850 machines. As of today, our general physical progress in this stage has reached approximately 23 percent by excavating 27.61 million cubic meters. “We have achieved 87 realizations, a total of 9 thousand 507 meters in 8 tunnels. We continue our construction work on 13 of 31 bridges, as well as on underpasses, overpasses and culverts,” he said.

THE BETWEEN ANKARA AND SAMSUN WILL BE 2.5 HOURS

Minister Uraloğlu, heralding that Çorum will be connected to the railway network for the first time with the completion of the line, said, “When this line, planned for a speed of 200 kilometers, is completed, an uninterrupted high-speed train connection will be provided between Ankara-Kırıkkale-Çorum and the distance between Çorum and Ankara will be 1 hour and 20 minutes. In addition, we have included the connection between Çorum and Samsun, which is the continuation of our line, in the investment program this year. Hopefully, we plan to realize its construction tender within the year. With the completion of the Çorum-Merzifon-Samsun sections, the travel time between Ankara and Samsun will be 2.5 hours; 12 million passengers and 14 million tons of cargo will be transported annually; a strong logistics axis will be established between the Black Sea and the Central Anatolia and Mediterranean basins, and a significant capacity increase will be achieved in regional development and freight transportation. “It will also ease the freight traffic on the straits and make Türkiye a logistics superpower in global trade,” he said.

Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) organized a Youth Meeting in Vienna, the capital of Austria. Young people at the meeting; came together to shape the future with their energy, ideas and vision. Speaking at the panel moderated by YTB President Abdulhadi Turus, Bilal Erdoğan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Science Dissemination Foundation, said, “Our universities continue to improve themselves every year. Dormitories and scholarship opportunities are provided to our young people. Our state has a dormitory capacity of over 1 million. Students can stay in dormitories for very low fees throughout their education life.”

‘OUR YOUTH ARE VISIONARY’

Evaluating the President’s messages, technology moves and the impact of TEKNOFEST on young people, Erdoğan said, “The new generation comes with a very self-confident, visionary perspective.” Stating that Turks stand out in Europe, Erdogan said, “There is a political and administrative gap in Europe. In such a leadership gap, our young people can fill this gap. As long as they use the opportunities in front of them.” YTB ​​President Abdulhadi Turus touched upon the brotherhood iftars organized by YTB in Europe and said, “We share the blessings of Ramadan in different cities of Europe.

We first started in Skopje. Our brotherhood iftars continue with our compatriots. While we brought our own culture to the places we were and visited, we also brought added value to those regions. The community with the lowest criminal crime rate is our diaspora. “The worker diaspora has turned into an employer diaspora,” he said. AK Party Foreign Relations Chairman Zafer Sırakaya pointed out the difficulties experienced by the first citizens who went to Europe and said, “Today, we can survive here thanks to the first generation. “I believe that this generation will give more responsibilities to the next generation,” he said. Turkish Maarif Foundation (TMV) President Mahmut Mustafa Özdil said, “We had to develop original solutions in the geographies we are in, in line with the social rhythm of that region. Our guidance is effective to some extent. “The important thing is to ensure permanence by allowing young friends to determine their own horizons,” he said.

Working at Izmir Dokuz Eylül University (DEU), Dr. The headscarf photo of Lecturer T.Ş. taken during the online lecture was taken by Prof. from the same university. Dr. It was shared by MB in a WhatsApp group that included students. It was claimed that the post contained vulgar profanities against the female academician’s personality and religious values. T.Ş., who learned about the incident through an e-mail from a student on Teacher’s Day, started a legal battle.

‘PREPAYMENT’ DECISION FROM THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE

Following the criminal complaint made to the Izmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the file was first sent to the university and then returned to the prosecutor’s office on the grounds that it was ‘not within the scope of duty’. The prosecutor’s office evaluated the action within the scope of the crime of “insulting with a voice, written or video message” and decided not to prosecute after the suspect paid the judicial fine (prepayment). After this decision became final, the victim academic filed a lawsuit for compensation of 100 thousand TL for moral compensation for the attack on his faith.

“WE WILL FIGHT”

Emrah Yolcu, the lawyer of the victim academician T.Ş., made poisonous statements regarding the issue. Stating that the attack was directly focused on “headscarf” and “belief”, Yolcu said, “Turkey will never go back to those old dark days, the February 28 period, when people were not admitted to universities. It is surprising that the outdated mentality of 30 years ago can still find this courage in itself today. Since our client is both a woman and a faithful academician, they want to be intimidated by being told, ‘You cannot be an academic, you will be exposed to these insults if you do.’ “We will fight this ‘blind mentality’ until the end. Our client will donate the compensation earned to charities,” he said.

The legal process regarding the incident continues.