Minister Tekin, along with Sevgi Kurtulmuş, President of the IUS Board of Trustees, Hasan Topaloğlu, President of the Foundation for Education Development Sarajevo, and Ambassador Sadık Babür Girgin, attended the university's promotional program. He then spoke at the university's academic year opening ceremony.

 

In his speech, Tekin expressed his condolences for those killed in the floods in the Konjic and Jablanica regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, wished a speedy recovery for the injured, and stated that Türkiye would provide assistance to the region in every possible way.

 

Wishing the International University of Sarajevo an auspicious new academic year, Tekin stated that promoting cooperation and brotherhood between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Türkiye is one of the university's duties.

 

Tekin stated that the only way human rights and dignity can be perfectly established and represented is through the establishment of justice in all its aspects and in a way to cover all areas of life. He continued: "Justice is the fundamental determinant of all relations in which humans are involved and the main parameter of the direction in which those relations will be characterized. The relationships of humans with humans, nature, society, the state, and states with each other must always be shaped on the axis of this parameter. Justice, in a sense, is the dialectic of rights and responsibilities, creating a balance between the rights we hold towards one another and the responsibilities we feel towards one another. Our civilization, from which our identity, which constitutes our common consciousness, also arises, has both established at a normative level the principles and values that should guide the formation of this balance and practically demonstrated them through various practices in different periods. It is a tradition that has constructed power not on brute force achieved through the domination of iron, but on human power based on wisdom and justice."

 

Tekin stated that there is a relative backwardness in the regions they regard as the basin of civilization today, saying, 'The cost of the tragedies caused by this distance, arising from the relative backwardness of the countries and societies within our civilization basin, is borne not only by those countries and societies but also by all oppressed geographies of the world.'

 

Tekin stated that the global exploitation system established by imperial countries holding military, industrial, and economic power can plunder other geographies to ensure its own continuity and access underground and above-ground wealth, resulting in the deaths of millions, displacements, and mass migration movements.

 

Tekin emphasized that there is an exploitation system shaped by political, economic, cultural, religious, and national reasons or based on other parameters according to the position of the powerful. He stated, "Even the structure of the United Nations, that claims to have been established to achieve and maintain world peace and security, clearly reveals this reality. Many international organizations, including the UN, which were established to create economic, social, and cultural cooperation among the peoples of the world, are under the tutelage of countries that rule and direct the global order in line with their own interests. The relations between the five countries that coordinate the UN and the rest of the world are or can be managed according to the common interests of these five countries and sometimes even according to the individual interests of any one of them. As our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has stated on every occasion, 'The world is greater than five.' This phrase reflects a profound and valuable observation and poses a significant challenge to the global exploitation system. Today, Türkiye, with the inspiration and strength it draws from the rich civilization it belongs to and the ancient past it has inherited, defies the global exploitation system and strives to raise the flag of struggle on behalf of all the victims and oppressed of the world, especially Palestine, for the construction of a fairer and freer world."

 

Stating that they have a difficult and arduous struggle but have full faith in their eventual success, Tekin said, 'The vast acquis of our rich civilization, which we have created together in the long flow of history and the common identity it provides us, embody all the values and principles we need. As Türkiye, we base our efforts on these universal principles and values, and we want to move forward together towards a just and free future by re-establishing the heartfelt ties with all our brotherly countries and geographies, especially Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Balkans."

 

After his speech, Tekin gave certificates to the students who were successful in the scholarship exam at the International University of Sarajevo.