The program of the November 10th Atatürk Memorial Ceremony, held at the Congress Center on Istinye University's Topkapı Campus, was carried out with great enthusiasm with the participation of our Rector, Prof. Dr. Erkan İbiş, Prof. Dr. Yusuf Erbay, Prof. Dr. Abdullah Uğur Tanyeli, Prof. Dr. Fahri Erenel, Assoc. Prof. Aybike Serttaş, Dr. Bilgen Sütçüoğlu and the Conductor of Istinye University’s Choir Ömer Yusuf Topçu, along with the esteemed academics and students of Istinye University. The Founder of our Republic, the Great Leader Kemal Atatürk, was commemorated with the utmost respect, love, and gratitude on the 85th anniversary of his passing.
Following a moment of silence and the National Anthem ceremony, the ISU Choir led by Conductor Ömer Yusuf Topçu provided emotional moments with their performance. In the mini-concert, a brand new 100th Year March, composed by our Conductor, was also performed for the first time, giving participants the opportunity to listen to it.
After the concert, our Rector, Prof. Dr. Erkan İbiş, began his opening speech with a quote from Atatürk: “There are two Mustafa Kemals: One is me, the temporary Mustafa Kemal with flesh and bone... The second 'Mustafa Kemal'... I cannot express it with the word 'I'; that is not 'I,' that is 'us'! He is a community of intellectuals and warriors who strive for new ideas, the new life, and a great ideal in every corner of the country. I represent their dream. My initiatives are to satisfy what they long for. ‘That’ Mustafa Kemal is you, all of ‘you’. The Mustafa Kemal who is not temporary, who should live and be successful, is that!” Rector Prof. Dr. Erkan İbiş also emphasized Atatürk's significant existence in the Republic ‘equation’.
The Atatürk Memorial Ceremony, organized as a whole, continued with the ‘The Republic at its 100th Anniversary’ Panel, moderated by Prof. Dr. Yusuf Erbay. Presentations made by our professors, Prof. Dr. Abdullah Uğur Tanyeli, Prof. Dr. Fahri Erenel, Assoc. Prof. Aybike Serttaş, and Dr. Bilgen Sütçüoğlu provided participants with an in-depth understanding of the experiences of our Republic over a century.
Prof. Dr. Abdullah Uğur Tanyeli presented “Revisiting the Atatürk Era and Early Republican Architecture”; Assoc. Prof. Aybike Serttaş discussed “A Strong Actor in Shaping the Identity of the Contemporary Türkiye: Anadolu Agency”; Dr. Bilgen Sütçüoğlu presented “Education of Citizenship of the Republic and Citizenship Awareness on its 100th Year,” and Prof. Dr. Fahri Erenel talked about “The Role of Rural Areas in Republic Modernization and Its Reflections to the Present.”
During the panel, participants acquired knowledge about the depth of the Republic and how citizens of the Republic, under Atatürk's leadership, achieved the accomplishments in history from different fronts and disciplines.
We, as Istinye University, remember the Leader and Commander-in-Chief of our War of Independence, the Founder of our Republic, and our very first President, Great Atatürk, with the deepest respect and commitment to his ideas and ideals on the 85th anniversary of his passing, always feeling and understanding the value of the saying: “There’s no need mourning for the deaths of the ‘great’ men; what is needed is dedication to their ideas.”
