2017 “TÜBA Awards” Found Their Owners
2017 TÜBA “International Academy Prizes, GEBİP and TEÇEP Awards” were handed to the owners under the auspices of Presidency with the ceremony held on December 12, 2017 in the Presidential Complex.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, Deputy of Prime Minister Fikri Işık, Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Dr. Faruk Özlü, Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekçi, Minister of National Defence Nurettin Canikli, YÖK President Prof. Yekta Saraç, MPs, TÜBA President Ahmet Cevat Acar, TÜBA members, other protocol members and academics, relatives of the winners and other guests attended the ceremony of the “TÜBA 2017 Awards” held in the Presidency Complex.
Following the speeches of President Erdoğan, Minister of Science Industry and Technology Özlü and TÜBA President Acar, the 2017 TÜBA Awards were delivered to their owners.
TÜBA International Academy Prize Laureates Prof. Hüseyin Arslan from Istanbul Medipol University in the category of Basic and Engineering Sciences, Assoc. Prof. Cenk Ayata from Harvard University in the category of Health and Life Sciences, Prof. Gabor Hamza from Hungary Academy of Sciences and Eötvös Loran University in the category of Social Sciences and Humanities, TÜBA-GEBİP winners Assoc. Prof. Ceyda Açilan Ayhan, Assoc. Prof. Bülent Akgün, Asst. Prof. Hüseyin Can Aksoy, Assoc. Prof. Serkan Ateş, Asst. Prof. Murat Barişik, Assoc. Prof. Ertuğrul Başar, Asst. Prof. Tunçer Baykaş, Assoc. Prof. Ayşe Bayrakçeken Yurtcan, Asst. Prof. Bilge Baytekin, Asst. Prof. Barbaros Çetin, Asst. Prof. Ercüment Çiçek, Asst. Prof. Onur Çizmecioğlu, Asst. Prof. Nilüfer Didiş Körhasan, Asst. Prof. M. Kasım Diril, Assoc. Prof. Oğuz Hakan Göğüş, Asst. Prof. Mehmet Selim Hanay, Assoc. Prof. Tuba Işınsu İsen Durmuş, Assoc. Prof. Muhammet Übeydüllah Kahveci, Prof. Dr. Engin Karadağ, Asst. Prof. Ferdi Karadaş, Asst. Prof. Ayşe Koca Çaydaşi, Assoc. Prof. Sermet Koyuncu, Asst. Prof. Can Küçük, Asst. Prof. Alptekin Küpçü, Asst. Prof. Gülistan Meşe Özçivici, Asst. Prof. Evren Mutlugün, Asst. Prof. Yavuz Oktay, Assoc. Prof. Engin Özçivici, Assoc. Prof. Saffet Öztürk, Prof. Dr. Elif Sertel, Assoc. Prof. Hasan Şahin, Asst. Prof. Şerif Şentürk, Assoc. Prof. Mehmet Atilla Taşdelen, Assoc. Prof. Mehmet Emre Taşgin, Assoc. Prof. Hacer Topaktaş, Assoc. Prof. Lokman Uzun, Asst. Prof. Selçuk Yerci, Asst. Prof. Yıldıray Yildiz, Assoc. Prof. Çetin Yilmaz, TÜBA-TESEP winners Assoc. Prof. Fatih Yeşil, Prof. Yücel Ercan and Prof. Nuh Arslantaş took the prizes from President Erdoğan.
Speech of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Commencing his address by congratulating the awarded scientists, President Erdoğan announced that Prof. Hüseyin Arslan of Istanbul Medipol University was awarded the TÜBA Academy Prize in the category of Basic and Engineering Sciences, Prof. Cenk Ayata of Harvard University in the category of Health and Life Sciences, and Prof. Gabor Hamza of Eötvös Loránd University and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in the category of Social Sciences and Humanities.
President Erdoğan noted that 39 young academics from various Turkish universities were also awarded as part of the Outstanding Young Scientists Awards program, stating that Assoc. Prof. Fatih Yeşil of Hacettepe University was awarded the Halil İnalcık Special Prize and the Best Authored Scientific Work Prize, and Prof. Yücel Ercan of TOBB Economy and Technology University and Prof. Nuh Arslantaş of Marmara University the Remarkable Work Prize.
Science to Serve the Common Good of Humanity
We are in favor of science producing outcomes that serve the common good of humanity, President Erdoğan pointed out, expressing his belief that the project of electric car will bring to an end the oil-based conflicts, destructions and sufferings. “I wholeheartedly wish that these developments will bring about an immediate end to the ongoing fights waged to assert dominance over energy resources in the larger geography surrounding our country.”
President Erdoğan continued: “We would of course wish that the scientific works that contribute to the peace and calm of the world would be produced by our scientists in our country. However, as is the case with any other issue, science is also under the domination of certain countries. Yet, we cannot put the entire blame on others and thus escape responsibility. We don’t have any such luxury. We also have our own deficiencies, shortcomings and mistakes. We must first question ourselves if our geography, which had been a center of attraction for all the major scientists of the world up until just a few centuries ago, is now writhing in misery and agony. We must, before all else, identify our mistakes and flaws and overcome them. Without the accurate diagnosis and findings, we cannot determine properly what should be done next.”
We Have Supported all the Works that would Contribute to Turkey’s Advancement in every area of Science
“Turkey must lead its region in scientific works, too, as in other areas,” President Erdoğan underlined, and added: “One cannot obtain any results solely by talking, criticizing or slandering. To serve his own country and nation as well as the humanity, one must work hard and have determination, vision, and first and foremost, passion. With this understanding, we have supported over the past 15 years all the works that would contribute to Turkey’s advancement in every area of science.”
President Erdoğan recalled that when they first came to power 15 years ago, Turkey was dependent on the U.S. and Western countries in defense industry, that it used to be denied the weapons it wanted with the excuse that “the Congress doesn’t allow,” and that high prices used to be asked for or various excuses used to be put forth even for the maintenance and repair. “The bad neighbor led us to buy our own house,” President Erdoğan underscored, adding that Turkey is now capable of manufacturing its own armed and unarmed UAVs and armored vehicles, has started to make its tanks, and meets the major part of its needs in defense industry through its own production.
Drawing attention to the fact that Turkey has been mentioned for years as a country suffering from brain drain, President Erdoğan stated that today, however, Turkey is in a struggle to not only keep the highly-trained people in the country but also to bring those who had gone abroad back home. Thanking the institutions and organizations that significantly help with these efforts, particularly the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, President Erdoğan urged the private sector representatives, industrialists and businesspeople to provide greater contributions to this process, and continued: “As of the level our country has arrived, it is now obvious that no one will enjoy better conditions or opportunities abroad than they do here.”
Efforts to Justify Interest Rate Hike through Manipulations Futile
“I see the attempts to justify the pressure of interest rate hike by means of short-term manipulations in economy as a futile attempt”, President Erdoğan stressed, and continued: “I declare again that I am against high interest rate and will continue to declare so. That is so because it is not possible for a country with high interest rate to lower its inflation. Keep that in mind. We would be capable of undertaking significant projects with the money we are now spending to pay interest. We must overcome this issue.”
Emphasizing that 2018 will be a year of greater advancements and achievements for Turkey in the field of economy as in other fields, President Erdoğan added: “There is no obstacle which we cannot deal with and no problem which we cannot resolve so long as we have self-confidence and decisively pursue our goals.”
Speech of Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Dr. Faruk Özlü
Congratulating the scientists who were awarded by the TÜBA Awards in 2017, Minister Özlü said that our greatest element in science is undoubtedly our history and he continued his speech as: “Our history is not just history of wars, but history of science as well. We are a nation that leads justice, science and civilization to all the geography we rule. We have a much better understanding of what we need to do today and in the future, regardless of how much we have known our science history. Our references are Harezmi, Ali Kuşçu, Piri Reis, Ulug Bey, Farabi, Akşemseddin, Ibn-i Haldun and Sabuncuoğlu Şerafettin. Libraries of Kurtuba and Istanbul are our support. Our guide is Prophet Muhammad who said that even if science is in China, go and learn. The science and technology-focused calls of the esteemed President at the summits that bring especially Islamic countries together must be taken as a guide and adopted as a goal by all Islamic countries. We live in an era where knowledge and science draw the direction of humanity and the level of technological development determines the competitive power of the countries. Countries that have the knowledge and mobilize to develop their knowledge gain advantage. On the contrary, the countries that fall behind science and technology cannot develop. This is natural. Our whole aim is to take distances to build Turkey as a science center, technology base and an advanced industrial country. Turkey has recorded significant distances in these areas over the last 15 years. We will continue to produce knowledge, to cultivate and to work for all humanity, without removing the word of Yavuz Sultan Selim from the mind that "the mud splashed from the foot of the scholar’s (alim) horse is a cure for us". TÜBA will continue to appreciate and encourage our scientists to give direction to our science policies from now on. I would like to thank our scientists who inspired our young people who bleach in the fields of science, engineering, health, life sciences and social sciences. I would like to express my gratitude and respect to my esteemed President for the interest, encouragement and high protection of science and scientists.”
Speech of TÜBA President Prof. Dr. Ahmet Cevat Acar
Distinguished President and guests,
I present my heartfelt gratitude for your participation in the ceremony of the 2017 TÜBA Awards ceremony organized under the high auspices of the President of the Republic of Turkey, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and I salute your esteemed delegation with respect. I present my gratitude to the esteemed President for his high auspices and grace.
TÜBA fulfills the tasks of developing science, scientific understanding and scientist with encouraging, appreciating and rewarding the success in all scientific fields, science-based guidance/counseling with the awareness and responsibility of being the autonomous national academy of our country. The awarding of outstanding scientific achievements is one of the most important functions of TÜBA as well as its counterparts in the world. The 2017 TÜBA Awards, which we have meticulously conducted, will be delivered to the owners in the ceremony.
In 2017, three works, one of which is “Halil İnalcık Special Award” given for the first time, “Best Authored Scientific Book Award - TÜBA-TESEP” and 39 outstanding young scientists won “TÜBA-GEBİP Award”.
Prof. Dr. Gabor Hamza from Eötvös Loran University in the field of Social Sciences and Humanities, Assoc. Prof. Cenk Ayata from Harvard University in the field of Health and Life Sciences and Prof. Hüseyin Arslan from Istanbul Medipol University in the field of Basic and Engineering Sciences were awarded 2017 TÜBA International Academy Prizes which awarded to scholars who have come up with original, pioneering and groundbreaking works at international level. Thus, the number of scientist and works with TÜBA awards rose to 641, 189 of which is TESEP, 443 of which is GEBİP and 9 of which is International Academy Prize. I sincerely congratulate the award-winning scientists, their families, and their colleagues and managers.
Dear President,
As known, education, science and innovation performance also have vital importance in terms of security, independence and retention besides development and international competitiveness of countries. In these areas, our country has achieved a serious quantitative growth in recent years. Nevertheless, “the development of the quality and performance of human power, processes and systems” in relation to education, science and innovation in the direction of our national goals and strategies is an important and urgent need. In this context, handling education, science and innovation with strategic management and system approach, developing cooperation, participation and coordination of related persons and organizations, making the necessary changes as planned as possible, giving the necessary attention to development, growth and selection of human resource - shortly HR management are important issues.
I want to show my opinion on “Turkish as Scientific and Education Language”, “teaching with foreign language” and “teaching foreign language” that are important in terms of our national identity and survival as well as our educational and scientific performance in the last month of the 2017 – Turkish Language year under the auspices of the esteemed President: “If Turkey has a civilization claim -it should be-, the education and science language should be mainly Turkish, “teaching with foreign language” should not be used as a foreign language teaching method.
Dear President,
Beside the awards, TÜBA continues its activities with its “voluntary contributions” of our members and scientists mainly in the framework of various programs and projects and by working groups, with our employees in Ankara and İstanbul. The Dictionary of Social Sciences Terms was published within the context of the TÜBA-Turkish Scientific Terms Project, which we conducted in the direction of the development and use of Turkish language as a science and education language, and the Dictionary of Engineering Terms containing about 37,000 terms will be published in the near future. The first four volumes of Prof. Andreas Tietze’s “Historical and Etymological Dictionary of Turkey Turkish", financed by the Ministry of Development, were published by our Academy. We are continuing our works towards the completion of the remaining volumes as well as their publication.
We also continue our works on publications under the TÜBA-Turkish-Islamic Science and Cultural Heritage Project supported by the Ministry of Development, honored by the cover letter of the President.
The Applied Science Education Courses that we have conducted with cooperation of MoNE, university and academy conferences and other scientific events also continue.
TÜBA is also continuing scientific studies and publications on important-priority and current issues with the participation of working groups such as “Science Education, Cancer, Stem Cell, Energy, Food and Nutrition, Science and Education” and all related stakeholders.
TÜBA represents our country in the world of international science academies. TÜBA has a membership of 12 international academic institutions such as IAP, ALLEA, AASSA, Union of National Academies of Sciences of the Turkic World, EMAN and is also a member of the S-20 Forum of G-20 Countries Science Academies, and has bilateral cooperation agreement with the 33 national academies. TÜBA conducts its international activities in line with the national aims of TÜBA and our country, and within the scope of the membership and agreements.
Dear President,
What we have lived through in recent years has clearly revealed that there is a dirty hybrid-proxy war aimed at dismantling Turkey and the Islamic world by exploiting the differences and using all kinds of ways and methods. Clear support for terrorist organizations despite the alliances, 15th July FETÖ treacherous coup attempt, trying the law-capped coup in abroad that cannot be achieved in the TR, and lastly recognition of Quds/Jerusalem as capital of Israel despite many UN decisions show that this war tends to turn into an open battle because of ineffectiveness and expiration of the proxies and the “originals/non-proxies” are becoming apparently.
Against this situation, our task is to protect the unity, integrity and independence of our nation and our state with an approach based on our common sides and evaluating our differences as wealth.
As TUBA, I would like to express that we will struggle for the unity, integrity, independence, survival and civilization of the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish Nation in every situation and condition.
I present my gratitude to the President for his principled and decisive leadership in this difficult process which includes significant risks as well as significant opportunities for the future of our country, all the elements of our state fulfilling the national duties and responsibilities, and the great Turkish nation. We wish mercy from Allah to our martyrs who sacrificed their lives for this blessing and our veterans and heroes to succeed.
I am presenting my gratitude again to the esteemed President for his high auspices and valuable support. I sincerely congratulate the award-winning scientists. I would like to thank the Dear Prime Minister and the Dear Minister of Science, Industry and Technology for their support, the members of the Academy and our employees, all our stakeholders and your valuable committee and I offer our best wishes and respects.
2017 TÜBA Award Ceremony ended with the reception given after the family photographs.
