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Süleyman Demirel Shares Ideas
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Last week Süleyman Demirel, the 9th President of Turkey, spoke to Bilkent students in a packed auditorium. His talk, organized by Petek Kulübü, was on "Ortadoğu Sorunu ve Türkiye" (The Middle East Problem and Turkey). During the first part of the meeting Demirel spoke on several subjects such as the history of the Ottoman Empire, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the most recent war between Iraq and Iran, the historical and present importance of Europe and Asia, Europe after the first and second world war, the importance of ‘Peace’ in the world, the European Union, and also the position of Turkey in the world today.
In discussing Turkey’s development trends he mentioned the increased importance of higher education. To make his point he said, "There are ten universities in Ankara. You can go by six different universities, METU, Hacettepe, Bilkent, Başkent, Atılım and Çankaya, in 15 minutes."
During the second part of the meeting Demirel answered questions which the students had prepared in advance. The questions covered current issues such as the new U.S. President, the recent U.S. and U.K. operation in Iraq, the relations of Turkey with Iraq, and Turkey’s current economic crisis.
Demirel’s active political life, spanning a sixty year period, was reflected as he shared his views and analysis of current issues and the future of Turkey.
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