The Opening Ceremony of Ibn Haldun University Complex was held on Monday, October 19, with the presence of President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. With the ceremony, the completed first stage of IHU’s complex was put into service. The ceremony was also broadcast live on IHU’s corporate Youtube account (https://www.youtube.com/c/ibnhalduni).
The ceremony, held with a number of precautions against the pandemic, was attended by IHU’s President Professor Recep Şentürk, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Professor İrfan Gündüz, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees Necmeddin Bilal Erdoğan, ministers, members of the board of trustees, vice presidents, deans, academics, students, donor philanthropists and distinguished guests.
Pointing to the marked distinction between being powerful through being a government and being powerful to be eligible for power, President Erdoğan emphasized that the real power is intellectual power. Underlining that the path to intellectual power is a difficult and laborious process, President Erdoğan made the following statement: “Personally, I feel a little sad about this. With sincere accounting, I think we have accomplished historical works and services in all fields over the past 18 years, but we have failed to achieve the progress we desire in education and culture. Millions of students receive education in our schools, but we do not have the qualified manpower to make us satisfied in most areas. We have a young population, but we are unable to fulfill our vision of civilization properly. Our media has the most modern infrastructure but does not reflect our voice. We always face similar problems in science, art and culture. We cannot explain ourselves to the world, even on the issues where we are right. For this reason, I believe that we still have not been able to establish our intellectual power. This strive for intellectual power should not distress any one. The standstill of the that endeavor means a disaster for a country and a society. We look forward to everybody’s support and contribution to this strive. Not political cadres but people of science, art and wisdom who create the intellectual power. Yet political cadres can only provide the base they need. Accordingly, if there is a responsibility belongs to us regarding this issue, a significant part is related to our scientists and intellectuals.”
At the opening ceremony, a cooperation protocol between Ibn Haldun University (IHU) and Qatar University was signed. After signing the protocol by IHU’s President Prof. Recep Şentürk and the President of Qatar University Hasan Dırham, President Şentürk presented a gift to the Qatar University’s president. Allahşükür Paşazade, Head of the Administration of Caucasian Muslims, who was among IHU’s guests at the ceremony, also addressed the participants and expressed his pleasure to be in the opening of such an important science center. Prof. Irfan Gündüz presented a symbolic key of IHU’s Complex to our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for honoring the opening ceremony with his presence and keynote statement. Gifts were also presented to the other guests, where AllahaŞükür Paşazade received his gift from President Recep Şentürk and Sheikh Thani Bin Hamad Al Thani received his gift from Necmeddin Bilal Erdoğan. The ceremony ended after the ribbon cutting.
