Minister of Youth and Sports Osman Aşkın Bak attended the opening ceremony organized by the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF) for the election of Konya as the 2026 Youth Capital of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Bak said, “The greatest strength of the Islamic civilization is its young population and the high ideals carried by this youth. A youth that draws strength from its faith, history and culture is the guarantee of a more just, more prosperous and stronger future. Under the leadership of our President, Turkey plays a leading role in strengthening unity, solidarity and cooperation in the Islamic world with the inspiration it draws from the past. Our country, with its historical background, strategic location and strong institutional structures, is in cooperation with the countries and organizations of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.” “We strive to act together in the field. The work we carry out in the field of youth is an important part of this vision. The Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum, located in Istanbul, has been bringing hope to the future of not only our region but also the whole world by bringing our youth together in a wide range of activities within the framework of our common beliefs and values.”

‘WE CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE VERSATILE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR YOUTH’

Minister Bak stated that they support the development of young people and said, “At this point, our Ministry also supports the forum by hosting young people from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation countries in our youth camps organized on different themes every year. In these camps, our young people learn and produce together in many fields from media to volunteering, from environmental awareness to entrepreneurship, and establish lasting friendships. In addition, we continue to support the versatile development of our young people with international youth projects, exchange programs, sports organizations and cultural events.”

A panel titled “Business World and Entrepreneurship: Driving Forces of Women’s Empowerment” was held in Istanbul within the scope of the Belgian Economic Mission. Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş and Queen Mathilde of Belgium also attended the program. The program held in Istanbul started with the opening speech of Erdal Bahçıvan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Istanbul Chamber of Industry. Then, Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş and Queen Mathilde of Belgium made speeches. At the event, issues related to women’s full participation in economic life, equal opportunities in the business world, entrepreneurship and supporting women’s rights in the economic field were discussed. The panel was moderated by William Massolin, Head of the Council of Europe Türkiye Office.

The panel included LEAD Network Turkey President Neslihan Nigiz Ulak, UNFPA Turkey Representative and Azerbaijan and Georgia Country Director Mariam A. Khan, Sioen Industries CEO Michèle Sioen, Anatolian Technology Research Park General Manager Duygu Yalnızoğlu and B-Fit founder Dr. Bedriye Hülya attended as a speaker.

‘THE POWER OF COUNTRIES WILL NOT BE LIMITED TO NATURAL RESOURCES’

Speaking at the panel, Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş said, “The issue we are discussing today is not limited to the representation of women in business life. This issue is directly related to the direction of development, the quality of production, the depth of social welfare, and the economic order we will leave to future generations. The world economy is being reshaped by digitalization, green transformation, artificial intelligence, new production technologies and changes in global supply chains. The ‘Role of Business World and Entrepreneurship Panel’ in Women’s Empowerment will focus on the power of countries, capital accumulation, market size or “It will not be limited to natural resources; the real determinant will be the ability to mobilize human resources, transform knowledge into value and open opportunities to all segments of society.”

‘WE IMPLEMENTED POLICIES THAT EMPOWER WOMEN IN EVERY FIELD’

Minister Göktaş said, “As Turkey, we have taken important steps in the last 24 years to strengthen the position of women in social and economic life. Under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, we have implemented policies that empower women in all areas. With the ‘Women’s Empowerment Strategy Document and Action Plan’, we have created a strong policy framework that will reflect the potential of women in all areas of life. With our Action Plan, we have implemented projects that support women’s greater involvement in employment, entrepreneurship, STEM fields, digital economy and innovative sectors. Women’s cooperatives; “We support women as strong structures that transform them into production, local development and sustainable income. In this context, we offer women education, digital skills, access to technology, mentoring, opening up to the market and access to finance. We strengthen safe working conditions and support their greater representation in decision-making processes.”

‘WOMEN ARE WRITTEN SUCCESS STORIES IN Türkiye’

Minister Göktaş said, “With the ‘Rising Women: My Own Business, My Trace’ program that we launched last year, we are transforming entrepreneurship supports into a strong ecosystem extending from local to national. Today, our country offers strong production and innovation opportunities to women entrepreneurs with its dynamic entrepreneurship ecosystem that competes on a global scale. The presence of women in this ecosystem is increasing every year. The number of female R&D personnel working in R&D and design centers and technoparks has increased approximately eight times in the last 10 years, reaching over 61 thousand. In addition, Türkiye, It ranks first in the world with the rate of female inventors exceeding 26 percent in international patent applications. This success reveals the strong potential of women in the fields of science, technology and innovation. On the other hand, women in Türkiye are writing success stories in many strategic fields, from software to artificial intelligence, from defense industry to clean technologies, from advanced production to digital. I believe that today’s panel will add a strategic dimension to these contacts. “I would like to emphasize that the empowerment of women in the business world is too big an issue to be limited only to national policies. As Turkey, we are ready to contribute to every joint effort that will enable women to take a more active role in production, entrepreneurship, technology and leadership.”

‘IF WE WANT TO SHAPE THE FUTURE, WE MUST TAKE ACTION NOW’

Speaking at the panel, Queen Mathilde of Belgium said: “Let me share with you three thoughts based on the Belgian experience: First, women’s equal and meaningful participation in economic and political decision-making is a prerequisite for inclusive economic growth, innovation and social resilience. Belgium’s experience shows that equality is achieved not by chance, but through conscious and structural choices. If we want to shape the future, we must act now. Progress will include concrete measures, including legislation to promote gender balance, wage transparency and social dialogue initiatives, as well as sustainable developments towards accessible, high-quality child care.” “At the same time, real equality in education, mentoring and professional networks is necessary but not sufficient to empower women and girls; it must be accompanied by efforts to eliminate persistent barriers such as discrimination and stereotyping. Secondly, women’s empowerment in the workplace cannot be separated from safe, respectful and dignified working environments.”

‘WE ARE BUILDING A BETTER EQUIPPED LABOR MARKET FOR THE FUTURE’

Queen Mathilde said: “Belgium takes an integrated approach combining prevention, protection and accountability through a comprehensive legal and policy framework. Its legislation provides strategies such as preventive obligations for employers, confidential counseling mechanisms, formal complaints procedures with protection against reprisals, informal dispute resolution procedures and, finally, access to labor inspectors and courts when necessary. In practice, confidential and informal mechanisms play a vital role: more than 70 percent of workplace incidents in Belgium are safe for victims who may hesitate to speak out.” “At the international level, Belgium strongly supports mechanisms that strengthen the prevention of violence or harassment in the workplace and protect victims. By promoting these goals and sharing best practices, we will make progress towards safer and more inclusive workplaces around the world. This will benefit not only women but society as a whole. By consciously investing in women and girls today, we are building a labor market that is not only fairer, but better equipped for the future.”

Within the scope of the “50 Libraries in the 50th Year” project, which was initiated by the Science Dissemination Foundation with 36 libraries in the earthquake regions after the February 6 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes, the mass opening ceremony of 15 libraries in Istanbul was held at Beşiktaş Anatolian High School with the participation of the Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Science Dissemination Foundation Necmeddin Bilal Erdoğan. Istanbul Governor Davut Gül, Istanbul Provincial Director of National Education Murat Mücahit Yentür and students also attended the program.

420 SQUARE METERS LIBRARY

Speaking about the libraries they opened, Necmeddin Bilal Erdoğan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Science Dissemination Foundation, said, “Of course, our philanthropists supported us when we decided to carry out this service. We keep their names alive on the doors of our libraries. When we said we should build libraries in 50 schools, we asked our Ministry of National Education. Beşiktaş Atatürk Anatolian High School, where we are here today, was our school that needed a touch, even though it had a really big library area. It is one of the distinguished schools of our country. “We have built a 420 square meter library in one of the schools. This is the largest library,” he said.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY IN EDUCATION

Explaining their work in education, Erdoğan said, “This is very important for Türkiye’s equality of opportunity in education. It is very important for eliminating the imbalances between regions. The Science Dissemination Society Science Dissemination Foundation, which has provided scholarships and accommodation opportunities to more than a million students at the university high school level and provided project supports and overseas education supports to tens of thousands of academics to date, will touch the lives of all students who will pass through here with this library. The science dissemination foundation, which we have built in our Science Dissemination Society, will touch the lives of all students at the secondary and high school levels.” “We provide scholarships to 3 thousand of our student friends in Istanbul. As the Knowledge Dissemination Foundation, we provide scholarships to approximately 4 thousand high school, university and graduate doctor students every year,” he said.

HE EXPLAINED THE SITUATION OF EDUCATION BEFORE 2002

Speaking at the opening, Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin said, “Turkey has truly done revolutionary work in the education and training processes in the last twenty years. We are not aware of many things because we live in it. We do not see many things. We, as much as possible, tell some anecdotes about Turkey before 2002 in the environments we attend in our conversations, and at the point we have reached, we see it as a human and Islamic duty to express our gratitude and thank those who have brought us this success or this point. “Unfortunately, we were living in a situation where Turkey ranked second and third from last among OECD member countries in the world rankings in terms of the number of students per teacher, physical capacity and quality of education. In this table, environments such as libraries, workshops and laboratories in our schools were not very noticeable to us because we needed classrooms much more seriously,” he said.

750 THOUSAND CLASSROOMS

Stating that Türkiye currently has 750 thousand classrooms, Minister Tekin said, “Currently, we have approximately 750 thousand classrooms. 750 thousand classrooms throughout Turkey. We had approximately 350 classrooms in 2002. When we look at this number, it seems to have doubled. But if we look at it this way, if we consider that approximately half of those 350 thousand classrooms were demolished and rebuilt for reasons such as earthquakes or ending their economic life, we have approximately 150 thousand classrooms before 2002. “Now, when I say this, some people get upset. Today, we have 750 thousand classrooms. Wouldn’t it be unfair not to thank the people who did this and the politicians who allocated resources for this? According to the TIMS scores announced in December last year, this is a very important indicator for us. PISA scores, which we applied last year, will be announced on September 8, and we are saying that we expect a very good grade there.”

Breaking news… President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the “158th Establishment Anniversary of the Council of State and the Council of State and Administrative Jurisdiction Day Ceremony” in Ankara and gave important messages.

Highlights from President Erdoğan’s statements:

In its modern sense, the state of law is a source of equal light for everyone, like the sun at the top of the day in the middle of the day. Public administration cannot look down on citizens. The administrator is not the master of the citizen, but his servant.

“WE REMEMBERED THE BARBED WIRE MESH”

We put an end to all kinds of privileges and discrimination, and tore down the barbed wire fences that stood between the people and the republic. There is no fear for anyone in the rule of law.

Last Minute | New Constitution message from President Erdoğan! “We put an end to all kinds of privilege and discrimination” | Video

No unlawful interference in the exercise of judicial power can be tolerated or excused. However, the judiciary does not have the right or authority to act or make decisions under the tutelage of the legislature or the executive.

We will continue to increase our efforts for a more fair judicial system. There is a lynching culture on social media.

NEW CONSTITUTION MESSAGE

A new, encompassing, libertarian and civil constitution stands before us with the possibility of building our democracy from the bottom up. We have to transform the Constitution from a framework determined by the coup plotters or elites and imposed on the society into a text determined by the society itself and declared to the state.

Despite the 4 constitutions that followed the Constitution, the Turkish nation’s longing for a good constitution has still not subsided. I believe that with such a constitution, it will be possible for us to achieve a superior legal logic that will protect both law, democracy, state and nation at the same time.

NUN Education and Culture Foundation Chairman of the Board Dr. Esra Albayrak made a statement at the World Decolonization Forum 2026 held at Istanbul Atatürk Cultural Center.

Highlights from Esra Albayrak’s speech

The World Decolonization Forum, organized under the leadership of the Institute Social, started yesterday at the Atatürk Cultural Center in Istanbul. The theme of “Decolonizing Information Production and Circulation” was discussed in the 2-day forum. Artificial intelligence, data colonialism, cultural inequalities and global balance of power were discussed in the program attended by world-renowned experts in their fields. The opening speech of the program was made by Esra Albayrak, Chairman of the Board of NUN Education and Culture Foundation. Albayrak said that today colonialism continues not only through military or economic methods, but also through digital technologies, data flow and information production. Albayrak said, “The mind is the last bastion of colonialism” and emphasized that real liberation will only be possible with intellectual independence.

Dr. Esra Albayrak: “The story of Gaza should be told through their eyes”

COLONIALISM CONTINUES WITH METHODS

In her speech, Esra Albayrak said that the colonial order has changed shape in the modern world. Stating that the dominance established through land occupations in the past continues today through technology, media and data, Albayrak pointed out that especially digital platforms have become decisive in global power relations.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WARNING

Albayrak said that the development of artificial intelligence systems with single-centered data sources may create new inequalities. Stating that the algorithms used in the digital world determine which societies will be visible or which information will come to the fore, Albayrak warned that this could create a new area of ​​addiction in the future.

Referring to the concept of “digital native”, Albayrak said that many concepts used in the world of technology evoke the colonial orders of the past. He stated that developing artificial intelligence models only from the perspective of certain cultures could lead to new problems on a global scale.

THREE-STAGE CALL

In her speech, Esra Albayrak drew attention to the following 3 basic issues in order to be free from colonialism:
1-Re-production of information with societies’ own concepts and cultural references.
2- Cleansing institutions from colonial codes, from education systems to artificial intelligence models.
3-Establishing a more fair and polycentric structure in the global system.

EMPHASIS ON ISTANBUL

Stating that organizing the forum in Istanbul is symbolically important, Albayrak said that the world can no longer be explained only by Western-centered thought systems. Drawing attention to Istanbul’s historical role in bringing different civilizations together, Albayrak stated that a common intellectual transformation is needed for a more just world order.

WORLD FAMOUS NAMES PARTICIPATED

The forum, which will continue today, brought together many international names from different disciplines in Istanbul. Walter Mignolo, known for his work in the field of decolonial theory, Mireille Fanon, daughter of Frantz Fanon and international law expert, Lilian Thuram, former French football player and anti-racism activist, Musician Yusuf İslam, Prof. Dr. Kemal Sayar, Prof. Dr. Enis Doko and Prof. Joseph Massad was among the notable speakers of the event. In addition to academic sessions, exhibitions, cultural events and film screenings will also be held within the scope of the forum.

A new development took place within the scope of the investigations initiated with İZDOĞA, one of the companies of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality. Güven Eken, one of the advisors of former Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tunç Soyer and former Chairman of the Board of Directors of İZDOĞA, and Özkan Baturu, one of the former general managers of İZDOĞA, were taken into custody. In addition, a detention order was issued for the former general manager of İZBETON, Heval Savaş Kaya, the deputy general manager of İZBETON, Hüseyin Şimşek, and the representative of the company named Kırveli Mühendislik, who were detained due to the cooperative investigation.

ABUSE OF OFFICE AND ADVANCED FRAUD

It was reported that individuals were detained for abuse of office and qualified fraud within the scope of the investigation carried out by the Izmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. The detained names were called to testify by the prosecutor’s office in the past months and they did not accept the accusations in their statements.

JUSTIFICATION OF THE INVESTIGATION

It was learned that one of the main basis of the investigation initiated was the works and transactions carried out by İZDOĞA in the past. Some of the allegations in question were also reflected in the Court of Accounts reports.

SECOND HAND MACHINE PURCHASE

The report stated that there were various irregularities and faulty transactions in the tender and implementation processes for the machines purchased for the Şaşal Water Facility. It was stated that there were incompatibilities between the technical specifications and the contract provisions, practices contrary to the legislation were made in advance payments and delay penalties were not applied to the contractor company. The report also noted that the blow molding machine was not delivered within the time specified in the contract and was later replaced with a second-hand machine. It was evaluated that the company suffered financial losses due to this process.