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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed thousands of young supporters at Turka Kocaeli Stadium on Saturday, promising that funds currently spent on counterterrorism operations would be redirected to education, science, employment and technology once Türkiye achieves what he called a terrorism-free future.
Speaking at a youth festival organized by the ruling AK Party youth wing, Erdogan framed the counterterrorism campaign as inseparable from the aspirations of the country's younger generation. "The peace and wellbeing of young people lies within range of our terrorism-free Türkiye goal," he said, adding that in an era where terrorism is fully neutralized, "youth will have no regrets, and will owe nothing to anyone."
Erdogan said Türkiye's vision of a terrorism-free region is being pursued specifically for the sake of young people and their secure futures. He expressed a desire to end the grief borne by mothers across the country and to prevent young lives from being cut short "in the spring of their years."
The president said the country wants resources currently consumed by counterterrorism to flow instead into education, science, production, employment, transport and technology, describing the shift as both a policy goal and a generational promise.
He referenced what he described as decades of national loss, noting that in recent history "youth said 'alas' many times, and parents suffered greatly."
Erdogan broadened his address into a wider argument about Türkiye's growing international stature. He described a country that stands firm while the world faces crises, one "whose word is heard at the table and whose strength is felt in the field."
He pointed to what he characterized as milestones in defense industry self-sufficiency, energy independence and counterterrorism as a template for future gains in the economy, employment and technology, telling the crowd: "Just as we broke dependence on foreign sources in defense, we will build a stronger Türkiye together with you in the economy, employment and technology."
Invoking the nationalist poet Arif Nihat Asya, Erdogan closed with a verse calling on listeners to keep the light ahead of them and let their shadow follow, regardless of whether it chooses to.
The president cast young Türkiye as the architects of what his government terms the "Century of Türkiye," a long-running national vision encompassing diplomatic, economic and cultural ambitions projected toward the country's centennial era.
He told attendees that future scientists, artists, poets, bureaucrats, politicians and even presidents would emerge from their ranks, and pledged that his partnership with the nation's youth would continue "as long as this soul remains in this body."
He also extended greetings to young people across all 81 provinces and 922 districts of Türkiye, as well as to Turkish youth living abroad.
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