The presentation of the pieces prepared by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for history teachers who work in schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education as part of the cooperation protocol in education between the Ministry of National Education and the Turkish Historical Society was made at the ceremony held in the National Library. 

 

Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer, stated in his speech at the 100th Anniversary Gift to History Teachers ceremony that Türkiye has completed the stage of universalization and popularization in education in the last twenty years. He went on to say, "Now, under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, our children can find a place for themselves in schools. Enrollment rates at all levels have risen to over 95 percent. It hasn't been easy. By this way we have retrieved a seventy-year delay." 

 

Expressing that they give importance to two things as the Ministry in this current situation, Özer said: "The first is to continuously increase the quality of school based education. Strengthening equality of opportunity in education by reducing the gap in success between schools is significant because the total number of students and teachers in our education system is more than the population of most countries. We have a huge education business with 19 million 150 thousand students and 1 million 200 thousand teachers. As schooling rates exceed 95 percent, our first duty is to continuously improve the quality and carry it to a better point gradually by establishing the quality assurance system in our schools. The second duty is not only to raise both academically talented generations but also to raise generations who have assimilated its culture and history, who know its historical responsibility and are ready to take this responsibility. As the Ministry we are working really hard on that purpose.

 

In this context, Minister Özer reminded that last year, under the auspices of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's wife, Emine Erdoğan, with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, they launched the "No More Schools Without Libraries" project. Regarding the studies worked as part of the project Özer said: " we have built 16 thousand 361 libraries within two months. In other words, we do not have a single school without a library in our education system as of 2021. Also, together with our Ministry of Culture and Tourism, we have started a mobilization to increase the number of books in the library. When this project started, the number of books in the libraries was 28 million. Our target is to have 100 million books by the end of 2022. Currently, we have libraries with 110 million books. In other words, while the number of books per teacher-student was 1.6, this number has reached up to 6.3 as of the end of the year. I would like to thank the Minister of Culture and Tourism." 

 

Noting that they started a series of seminars on culture, history and civilization awareness for school administrators, Minister Özer said, "... Because everything happens at school. We invited nearly 4,000 school administrators to these seminars that we started in May. Hopefully, in 2023, we will invite all of our school administrators. We will bring them together in Istanbul, but as of today's meeting, we will make a privilege together with our Ministry of Culture and Tourism by including all 20 thousand history teachers in this seminar. Today, we are very happy to bring the three valuable books of the Turkish Historical Society together with all our history teachers. I would like to thank the Turkish Historical Society and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for their support. I wish the project to be beneficial for all. "

 

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy stated that they aim to support the personal development of children and young people through projects such as building the habit of reading in museums, culture and art centers and libraries and holding workshops that offer theoretical and practical training in various fields.

 

Ersoy stated that they aim to open Atatürk Library in 92 social sciences high schools in 68 provinces by 29 October 2023, when the 100th anniversary of the Republic will be celebrated, Ersoy said that they have opened 19 of these libraries as of this month. Stating that the aim of the protocol signed with the Ministry of National Education is to protect history and support teachers who have dedicated their lives to this path, Ersoy said, "With the protocol we signed on April 13, 2022, we turned this aim into action, and to contribute the young generations to have a culture of research and inquiry in the presence of the Turkish Historical Society. Studies have started with the aim of providing academic support to the professional and personal development of history teachers. 

 

Noting that 81 history teachers from 81 provinces were designated as the provincial representative of the Turkish Historical Society History Teaching Support Project, Minister Ersoy said, "These teachers provide coordination in the activities to be held in history education in their provinces and help the history teachers to announce the activities to be done."

Minister Ersoy stated that 8 events were organized in 2022 in line with the stated purposes.

 

Stating that they have taken a good step as part of the 100th Anniversary Gift to History Teachers project from the Turkish Historical Society, Minister Ersoy said: "We present Prof. Dr. Justin McCarthy's piece called Death and Exile, İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı's piece called İlmiye Organization of the Ottoman Empire and Kazım Özalp's the War of Independence piece in two-volumes, which all are publications of our Ministry, as gifts to approximately 20 thousand history teachers working in our country. I hope by this way we can express our loyalty and gratitude to our history teachers on the 100th anniversary of our Republic. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all our teachers who opened their doors of science and knowledge."

 

The program ended with the presentation of Kazım ÖZALP's piece called  "The War of Independence 1919-1922", İsmail Hakkı UZUNÇARŞILI's piece called "İlmiye Organization of the Ottoman Empire " and Justin McCarthy's piece called "Death and Exile" to invited history teachers.