11/11/2025
The November 10th Atatürk Commemoration Ceremony at Sabancı University took place at the Sabancı University Performing Arts Center with the participation of faculty, administrative staff, and students. The ceremony reiterated the importance Atatürk placed on science and education.
Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of our Republic, was commemorated at Sabancı University on the 87th anniversary of his passing with a meaningful ceremony. The ceremony, held at the Sabancı University Performing Arts Center on Monday, November 10, 2025, began with a moment of silence, followed by the singing of the National Anthem.
Speaking at the opening of the ceremony, Sabancı University President Prof. Dr. Yusuf Leblebici emphasized that Atatürk's spiritual legacy aligns with the values of Sabancı University, saying, "The picture painted by our graduates, our entire faculty, and our beloved students, who continue to prove their success both in our country and around the world, demonstrates the value of the path we have taken in the light of free and rational thought." Recalling Atatürk's words, "I leave no verses, no doctrines, no fixed and stereotyped rules as my spiritual legacy. My spiritual legacy is science and reason," Leblebici said, "On this path our Atatürk showed us, we have raised young people with free thought, free wisdom, and free conscience, who are global citizens. We are working with all our might to be worthy of this valuable legacy left to us by our great leader, and we will continue to do so."
In his speech titled "Atatürk and the Young Republic of Türkiye's Vision of Science and Education" at this year's ceremony, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mert Moral from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences provided striking examples of Atatürk's prioritization of science, education, and modernization even under wartime conditions.
Recalling Mustafa Kemal Pasha's convening of the First Education Congress in Ankara in 1921, while fighting continued on the front lines, Moral said, "It is admirable that Mustafa Kemal Pasha returned from the front to Ankara to deliver the opening speech of the First Education Congress, even on the day the war raged on and the Turkish Army was forced to abandon Afyon." He emphasized that Atatürk's call to "build a national culture free of superstitions and foreign influences" was the foundation of the Republic's educational revolution.
Continuing his speech, Mert Moral recalled Atatürk's telegram to Professor Mahmut Sadi Irmak, one of the first Turkish students sent to Europe for education in 1923:
"I am sending you as sparks; you must return as flames."
In light of these words conveyed by Prof. Mahmut Sadi Irmak, one of the students sent to Germany at the time and later serving as the 17th Prime Minister of the Republic of Türkiye, Moral stated that the bright young people they sent abroad as sparks returned home as mighty flames. He said, “We learn that they built the Keban Dam and the Karabük Iron and Steel Plant; that the country's first physical education teacher, first metallurgical engineer, and first industrial engineer were among these students.” In his speech, Moral mentioned Prof. Dr. Nazım Terzioğlu, the father of our university's founding president, Prof. Dr. Tosun Terzioğlu, as one of these flames. In his speech, Moral noted that Prof. Dr. Nazım Terzioğlu studied mathematics at Göttingen and Ludwig-Maximilians Universities on a scholarship from the Ministry of National Education and that, after completing his doctorate, he returned home and began working at Istanbul University. He also stated that during his deanship there, he founded the Geophysics, Hydrobiology, and Cosmic Ray Institutes, that as the founding president of Karadeniz Technical University, he opened our country's first Faculty of Fundamental Sciences, that he was subsequently elected president of Istanbul University twice, and that after his passing in 1976, he was deemed worthy of the TÜBİTAK Service Award in 1982 for his outstanding contributions to the development of mathematics in our country.
At the end of his speech, Moral emphasized that the vast majority of Sabancı University faculty members are part of this vision:
“The majority of our faculty members completed their doctoral studies abroad and returned to our country as those ‘mighty flames’ that Atatürk spoke of. Today, these flames are conducting scientific research at one of our country’s leading research universities, nurturing our country’s young and bright minds…”
Speaking at the closing of the ceremony, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Dean Prof. Dr. Meltem Müftüler-Baç emphasized the impact of Mert Moral’s speech, saying, “The reason each of us returned to our country is to carry Türkiye to its rightful place. We owe a great debt to our Atatürk, and we are trying to repay this debt with our actions.”
As every year, the November 10th Commemoration Ceremony at Sabancı University, where we commemorate Atatürk with love, respect, and gratitude, reminded us once again of Atatürk’s vision and the importance of preserving the legacy of ‘science and reason’ for the entire country.
