President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the 6th OECD Skills Summit (OECD 2026 Skills Summit) organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) at the Haliç Congress Center.

THE MEMORIES ARE BEING BREAKING IN EMPLOYMENT

Erdoğan said the following in his speech here:

Dear Secretary General, esteemed ministers, esteemed representatives of international organizations, esteemed guests; I greet you with my most heartfelt feelings, respect and affection. I am very pleased to host you in Istanbul, the meeting point of the continents, on the occasion of the OECD 2026 Skills Summit. It is a matter of pride to host you in Istanbul, which is our country’s gateway to the world, and to host such an important summit. On behalf of myself, my country and my nation, I would like to express my gratitude to all the guests from home and abroad who attended the summit. I believe that you will have the opportunity to see the beauties, historical and cultural riches of our Istanbul whenever you get the opportunity from this important meeting. I would like to underline one point right at the beginning of my speech. As you follow, our world is going through a sharp transformation process led by technology and artificial intelligence. Of course, our academics calculate in a multidimensional way what this change has gained and lost for humanity. But we can all see this very clearly: It is not possible to stop this wave of change, which drags everything in its path, or to set a barrier against change. But it is in our hands to read the change correctly, direct it correctly and manage it in a healthy way. Moreover, this is one of the primary duties of us decision makers. I think that this summit, which is the manifestation of the close cooperation between our Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the OECD, will create a strong basis for global dialogue in the field of skills. We are in a period when developing common solutions to humanity’s common challenges is more critical than ever before. We are witnessing that the rules are being disrupted, especially in the field of employment. In parallel with the developments in technology, production methods are changing and professions are transforming; While some jobs become obsolete, new job areas emerge. It is understood that the factor that will determine the success of countries in the current period will be the quality of human capital. In this respect, I find it very accurate that the main theme of the summit is to reveal intergenerational talent. I wish the Skills Summit to be successful and hope that the evaluations to be made in the different sessions will be beneficial in advance.

President Erdoğan: The world is going through a sharp transformation

THE “DARK FACTORY” ERA BEGINS

Dear guests, international research shows that the working age population is shrinking in most countries. As our population ages, our labor markets are exposed to new pressures and new challenges. Digital and green transformation is also radically changing the nature of skill demand. While labor demand inevitably decreases in some sectors, it is difficult to find personnel to work in new employment areas. All economies, including our country, experience this at different levels. In particular, the widespread use of robotic technologies and artificial intelligence brings with it various concerns along with new opportunities. Look, this is extremely striking: It is predicted that the global robot market will turn from its current level of 100 billion dollars into a 25 trillion dollar market by 2050. In some countries, fully automated production facilities, called “dark factories”, are rapidly becoming widespread. How to manage this new order, which is implemented by robots instructed by artificial intelligence and therefore has no human element at almost any stage of the production processes, remains a great mystery before us. While the Industry 4.0 process offers cheaper, faster and error-free production on the one hand, it also causes serious problems. Just looking at the dark factory reality is more than enough to see that labor markets are facing a wave of change similar to the industrial revolution. I believe that the three topics to be discussed at the Skills Summit will bring different horizons to all of us, especially our business community.

AN AGING WORLD CREATES NEW RISKS

Undoubtedly, education is the priority issue in this process, as in every field. We are all aware that information is one of the greatest sources of power for a country, a company or an individual. However, information that is out of date or does not translate into practice is a burden for its owner. Processing, using, transforming and adapting information to new situations is as important as having information. In other words, all stakeholders of education, including its content, tools, practitioner and recipient, need to keep up with the pace of change of our age. Here, I would like to draw attention to this striking fact: According to the evaluations made by the OECD, in many countries there is a decline in the basic skills of students, the teacher workforce is aging, and there is a need to reshape the education systems. We no longer live in an era where learning starts at school and ends with a diploma. On the contrary, today learning refers to a dynamic process that spreads throughout life.

Another thing to consider is this: In 2030, one fifth of the world’s population will be people aged 60 and over. It is estimated that this rate will reach one quarter in 2050. Therefore, people will stay in business longer each year than in the past. When we add to this excessive individualization, the disintegration of the traditional family structure, and the increasing acceptance of selfishness embodied in the saying “every man does his own thing”, we face a serious problem. Thank God, our country is in a very good place in this regard compared to many countries in the world. The fact that our family ties are still alive and the culture of cooperation and solidarity is still strong provides us with a significant advantage. Despite this, on the one hand, we strengthen the family institution, which is the basis of society, with various projects, and on the other hand, we take care not to leave anyone out with the world’s most comprehensive social security system.

INEQUALITY IS AN OBSTACLE TO DEVELOPMENT

Dear friends, one of the issues we care about is the education of adults. It is critical for all of us that adults update their skills, gain competence in new areas, and adapt to change. Flexible education models, career guidance mechanisms and effective partnerships with employers will be decisive in labor markets. More clearly, lifelong learning will determine not only the careers of individuals but also the competitiveness of countries.

Revealing hidden talents is both an economic need and a moral responsibility today. Today, in many countries, groups such as women, immigrants and disadvantaged students cannot fully use their potential. We cannot see the consequences of this situation only as an economic loss. No country that leaves a significant portion of its human capital idle can undertake a truly strong development move. It is impossible to talk about the existence of a fair order in countries that cannot provide the opportunity to realize their potential due to various reasons, especially discrimination and inequality. As Türkiye, we have achieved success in this field that was unimaginable 20-25 years ago, by commissioning unique projects especially for women. We increased the female workforce participation rate, which was 27.9 percent when we took office, to 34.7 percent. In the same period, female employment in our country increased from 25.3 percent to 31.7 percent. We have eliminated all kinds of barriers that keep women away from social life, economic life and especially education. As a result, the rate of female public employees increased from 34.2 percent to 43.38 percent in just the last 12 years.

NEW SUPPORT PROGRAM FOR YOUTH

Last week, we offered another very important convenience to women with a law passed in our parliament. With the new regulations, we increased the maternity leave duration of all working mothers to 24 weeks. Likewise, we have mobilized all our resources for the education and employment of our young people. Since we took office, we have allocated the lion’s share of the budget to education every year. We have made vocational education, which was pushed to the agenda in the days when democracy was suspended, a center of attraction again. In this process, we prepare our young people for the professions of the future with various programs and increase the connection of our educational institutions with the business world. “Youth’s Production Age Power Program”, which we shared with the public on January 6, is one of them. With this program, we will offer new supports to our youth and employers in many areas, from internship opportunities to skill acquisition, from vocational guidance to wage supports. Our goal is to employ 3 million young people in the next three years. We will have adapted the master-apprentice relationship, which has shaped our working lives for centuries, to today’s conditions. Dear guests, our government approaches the topics to be discussed at the summit with a strong political will and a long-term perspective. In line with our human-centered development approach, we continue our reforms in every field, from education to employment, from labor policies to social protection. In an increasingly digital world, known working models are undergoing a radical change. While this process creates new job opportunities, it also increases the risk of employment shifting to unregistered areas. But thanks to the measures we have taken, we have achieved significant success in the fight against unregistered employment in the last 23 years. We managed to reduce the unregistered employment rate, which was over 52 percent in the early 2000s, to 24 percent by 2025. Moreover, we achieved this success in a conjuncture where informality is increasing at the global level; We signed at a time when we achieved the best results of the last 23 years in terms of unemployment and employment rates.

HISTORICAL DECLINE IN UNREGISTERED EMPLOYMENT

I would like to express this clearly once again: At the center of our Türkiye Century vision are qualified human resources, strong family structure, productive economy and inclusive social development. However, skills policies are not an area that state institutions can carry out alone. This issue; It requires strong cooperation between the public, private sector, universities, unions, local governments and civil society. Therefore, I hope that the evaluations to be made at the summit will not only be limited to identifying problems, but will also lead to the development of bold, applicable and people-centered solutions. I believe that the analytical capacity of the OECD and the basis for dialogue it establishes between countries are a very important opportunity at this point. We see that the OECD Istanbul Center plays an important role in the current environment where global geopolitical and economic dynamics are transforming, and we are also pleased about this. With these thoughts, I hope that the OECD 2026 Skills Summit will be beneficial for our countries and all humanity. I wholeheartedly congratulate our Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the esteemed Minister and his team, and all the employees of the OECD in the presence of Secretary General Cormann, who contributed to the organization of the summit. I thank you for your participation and I respectfully greet you all once again. Stay well.

40 COUNTRIES PARTICIPATED AT THE MINISTER LEVEL

While 64 countries and international organizations were invited to the summit organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development at the Haliç Congress Center in Istanbul, approximately 40 countries were represented at the minister and deputy minister level. At the summit, the effects of technological transformation, especially informatics and artificial intelligence, on labor markets, the skills of the future and the adaptation of education systems to this change were discussed. Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan and OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann also made speeches in the program. Following the speeches, a special rosary from the “Drop Amber” collection embroidered with Ottoman motifs was presented to President Erdoğan by Minister of Labor and Social Security Işıkhan. The program ended with a family photo.

In his post on his NSosyal account, Minister Çiftçi stated that the April 27 “e-memorandum” is in their memories as one of the last dark attempts of the tutelage mind trying to align the will of the nation.

Reminding that once upon a time, politics in Türkiye was intended to be guided by e-memorandums, Çiftçi said:

“WE DID NOT SUBMIT TO GUARDIAN”

“The will of the nation was tried to be suppressed through tutelage. Türkiye’s direction was wanted to be determined by dark circles instead of the ballot box. However, our dear nation did not consent to this imposition. The elected will did not step back. Democracy, law and national will were protected. Today, we have reached a strong Türkiye that talks about the vision of the Turkish Century, determines its own goals, and has a say in its region and the world, from a Türkiye that wanted to be pulled into line with e-memorandums. “This great march was made possible by the will of our nation and its unwavering commitment to democracy, under the leadership of our esteemed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. We did not forget April 27, we did not bow to tutelage, and we are building the Turkey Century with determination.”

Minister of Justice Akın Gürlek shared a post about the April 27 E-memorandum on his social media account.

Minister Gürlek included the following statements in his post:

“The April 27 E-memorandum was an intervention attempt targeting the elected government and directly against our nation’s right to sovereignty and the rule of law.

“OUR PRESIDENT’S DETERMINED STAND WAS A HISTORICAL TURNING POINT”

The determined stance of our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, based on the will of the nation, was a historical turning point and frustrated this initiative. Türkiye today; If it is a state of law whose route is not drawn by declarations, but guided by the nation that reveals its will at the ballot box, this was made possible by the strong leadership displayed by our President on April 27 and the unwavering support given by our beloved nation to this will. This stance went down in history as one of the most important breaking moments in the struggle against the coup and memorandum mentality in Türkiye.

The will put forward on April 27 gained even more strength with the epic resistance of our nation on July 15. As the Ministry of Justice; continues to take national will as a basis and to not allow any shadow of tutelage over our democracy; On the anniversary of the April 27 E-memorandum, we once again emphasize our determination to protect our democracy. On this occasion, we declare that we are against all kinds of anti-democratic initiatives; that we will never compromise on law, justice and national will; “We express in the strongest possible way that the periods of tutelage and coup are now completely behind us.”

The April 27 E-memorandum was an intervention attempt targeting the elected government and directly against our nation’s right to sovereignty and the rule of law. Our President Mr. @RTErdogan’s determined stance based on the will of the nation was a historical turning point and this initiative was thwarted… pic.twitter.com/p9hjz7m9MJ

— Akın Gürlek (@abakingurlek) April 27, 2026

According to the information obtained, a dawn operation was organized against Halfeti Municipality by the Şanlıurfa Provincial Police Department Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Branch Directorate and the Birecik District Police Department teams, under the instructions of the Birecik Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

During the operation, 49 people were detained on the grounds of corruption in tenders during the trustee period and the administration period that continued from the local elections in 2019 until 2024. It was learned that among those detained were the mayor of that period, Şeref Albayrak, deputy mayors, vice mayors, committee members, unit managers, engineers and technical personnel.

While 4 of the detained suspects were released after giving their statements to the prosecutor’s office, 45 suspects were transferred to Şanlıurfa Mehmet Akif İnan Training and Research Hospital for a medical report after their procedures at the police station. After the health checks were completed, the suspects were transferred to Birecik Courthouse under extensive security measures.

AK Party Deputy Chairman and Party Spokesperson Ömer Çelik made statements regarding the April 27 e-memorandum, which has passed 19 years.

Emphasizing that military and judicial tutelage fell on Ankara with all its darkness in those days, Çelik said that it may be difficult for someone who did not experience those days to understand those days from today.

Stating that today, Cabinet Meetings are held under the chairmanship of the President, these meetings are at the center of politics and all eyes are on the evaluations and decisions to be made in these meetings, Çelik said, “But it was not like this in those days. The whole center was the National Security Council (MGK) meetings. Because the National Security Council meetings were the area of ​​military tutelage to make politics.” he said.

“WHATEVER DECISION YOU MAKE AS A GOVERNMENT, IT WAS ADJUSTED BY THE MGK”

Ömer Çelik stated that on those dates, the National Security Policy Document was systematically placed on top of the Constitution, and a tutelage presidency was tried to be constructed over the prime minister, and said, “There were policies made in the National Security Council in order to obsolete the vote and political will of the elected government from the citizens. In other words, whatever decision you took as the government, it was somehow adjusted and its direction was changed in the National Security Council. The culmination of this in Türkiye is this memorandum tradition.” he said.

Stating that the governments were left completely politically dysfunctional through the memoranda, that they were turned into a shell, that the will they received from the nation was taken away, Çelik noted that the next stage of this was the coup.

AK Party Spokesperson Çelik continued as follows:

“The military memorandum was another way of saying that if you do not surrender your political will to the tutelage authorities in Türkiye, you will face direct armed intervention. Therefore, the memorandum was unfortunately one of the important instruments of a bad tradition that extremely poisoned, destroyed, destroyed and rendered dysfunctional the democratic life in Türkiye. No government could resist this throughout the history of the Republic. So what is the importance of April 27? For the first time in the history of the Republic, a Prime Minister, our President and the AK Party government are here.” “They resisted the memorandum. Actually, we shouldn’t call it a memorandum, because they wanted to give a memorandum. When the government resisted, it became a piece of paper. In other words, this was something that was not planned and was a first in Turkish political life.”

“WHEN THE GOVERNMENT RESPONDED, THE WHOLE EQUATION WAS REVERSED”

Reminding that the memorandum tradition was interrupted for a long time after the AK Party came to power, Çelik said, “Even some of our journalist friends who called us that night said, ‘The fax machines, which have been silent for a long time under the military tutelage, will start working tonight.’ That’s how we were already informed. We informed our President, then our Prime Minister, in this way. But of course, what was not taken into account was that it was never thought that a government could respond to the memorandum mentality. Therefore, democracy is above the elected will.” “While trying to create a great darkness, the whole equation turned upside down when the government responded and what was designed as a memorandum turned into a piece of paper.” he said.

Reminding that the e-memorandum in question, which was prepared by the then Chief of General Staff and the team around him, contained a wide range of statements, including how the President and the national education policy should be, Çelik made the following statements:

“But the main thing is this, firstly, after that day, the tradition of the memorandum ended never to be revived again. Secondly, military tutelage was something that has always been a foreign-supported fiction in Türkiye, which has governed our democracy as a pattern of destruction. I remember very well, for example, the February 28 period, you can clearly see that external connection during the closure case filed against the AK Party. This was an approach that was also unfair and disrespectful to the Turkish Armed Forces. Therefore, that night, our President, as Prime Minister, “The resistance and the total resistance of the government, the AK Party and the national will, the support of the civil society, and the correct attitude of some political parties, upset the result that was tried to be achieved in the memorandum initiative.”

“THEY BOTH GIVEN A MEMORAND AND THEY AVOID TAKING THE PHONES”

Emphasizing that that night was not as comfortable as he describes today, Çelik said, “In other words, it was a scene in which the most intense darkness fell on Ankara and where the outcome of the situation could not be predicted. But the determination shown that night, that is, the will of our President, the clear attitude of the nation not to surrender its elected will to any tutelage focus, and the picture of being ready to pay it no matter what, revealed this situation. In fact, it was the most revolutionary transformation and positive transformation in favor of democracy and civil politics in Türkiye’s history of democracy, in our political history during the Republic period.” “It is one of the important turning points.” shared his opinion.

Çelik said the following about that night:

“They want to hold those who gave the memorandum accountable that night. In other words, the Prime Ministry is calling to say, ‘How can you give such a memorandum?’ But they both gave the memorandum and are avoiding answering the phone. They had such a situation of running away for 15-16 hours. When it was announced that the government would respond, they tried to come forward. So you see how unqualified, how ugly, how much disrespect to Turkish democracy, unfortunately, a bad tradition has been formed and this has continued for years. “In Türkiye, there was a situation where you came to power with the will of the people and left power with the will of military tutelage. Many examples of this have been seen in the past. That bad tradition, the disrespect that haunted democracy and the national will was ended that night.”

In the 579-page indictment prepared last October 20 against 200 suspects within the scope of the investigation carried out by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office; There are names such as suspended Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat, Avcılar Mayor Utku Caner Çanyaka and Seyhan Mayor Oya Tekin. The detained defendants, the unarrested defendant Aziz İhsan Aktaş and their lawyers were present at the hearing, which was held in the hall opposite the Marmara Closed Penitentiary Institution in Silivri.

HE REVEALED THE DIRTY STRUCTURE WITH DOCUMENTS
The Secret Witness who came to the witness stand at the hearing was connected via SEGBIS. He stated that the information given by Aziz İhsan Aktaş, who was tried as the leader of the organization, by taking advantage of effective remorse, confirmed the “stinking structure” in the municipalities. The witness said, “The operation of the bribery scheme in my statements that I previously submitted to the prosecutor’s office exactly matches the documents presented by Aktaş.”

“THE WEDDING WAS FINANCED BY THE CONTRACTOR”
Detailing how the bribery system worked, the secret witness said, “Tenders were given to well-known companies through direct procurement, thus earning huge profits. The figures were inflated, exceeding the market value, or irregularities were made by showing high number of pieces, in a method known to everyone in the market. Ali Can Abacı’s wedding was built by a contractor at that time, and Aziz İhsan proved this with his documents.”