One year ago, I received a very kind letter from the President of your University, Professor Sitti, inviting me to speak at your graduation. I expressed my thanks and replied that it would be my great honour to join you on this special day, of a leading Turkish University that is renowned for its excellence in teaching and research. The invitation was an additional honor, as it gives me the opportunity to address so many young people from across the world and especially from Turkiye.

Young people full of hopes and dreams, yet also with many questions about the complicated world that is unfolding before them and the challenging future that lies ahead. After I accepted the invitation, I must confess I asked three questions to your Dear Teachers.

First question: Is this the first time you invite a politician to speak at graduation here at Koc University? They replied it was not the first time, but it was rare.

Second question: Is it the first time you invite a Greek to speak at the graduation? They said it is not the first time. But it is even more rare. Third question: Is it the first time you invite a Greek, left-wing politician, to speak at the graduation?

They said it was! I said to them: Dear friends, you are all very brave people!
Reflecting on these thoughts, today I would like to say a few words about two important issues.

These are two interconnected questions that you will face which will test your character and personality, not only in your professional life, but throughout your entire life: First, how does each one of you develop, as the world changes around you. And second, what principles you stand for. I would like to share with you, the path my life has taken as I’ve tried to answer these questions.

As a student, I attended a public school in central Athens and completed my studies in civil engineering and urban planning at the National Technical University of Athens. I lived through the momentous changes of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

During those times, many people were hopeful for a better future while others were worried about what these changes would bring. A new world was in the making, and many of my friends as well as myself, believed that this was a time to fight for more citizens’ rights in Greece.

The government at that time had passed a law in a very conservative direction. increasing monitoring of students’ lives even outside school hours and making it mandatory for school students to wear school uniforms.

The law also limited access to social facilities for university students as well as weakening the role of their representatives in the governing bodies of the universities. Together with thousands of other students across Greece we stood up and demonstrated. And we were successful. The law was retracted.

A few years later, in the early 2000s when I had just started working as an engineer, the european economy was on a positive trajectory. New technological innovations such as the internet and mobile phones, as well as new digital tools, started to dominate our lives. There was economic growth in Greece and here in Turkey the country was emerging the from years of bankruptcy.

Many citizens were faced with new opportunities, but many were facing difficulties. Globalization was spreading within the neoliberal framework leading to rapidly increasing global, regional and social inequalities. Many citizens were being left behind. The prospect of poverty threatened more and more people. As international financial capital grew stronger, more and more national economies were put at risk. At the same time, Western military interventions - in Afghanistan, in Iraq and later in Libya – as well as the worsening situation in Palestine, confirmed to many of us that the new world order would not bring the future we were hoping for.

Many young people from my generation, including myself, took again to the streets. We protested against the war in Iraq and expressed our opposition to an economic system which we believed would soon lead to a catastrophic economic crisis. But this time we did not just demonstrate. We built a global movement and a new political party in Greece.

A few years later, Lehman Brothers collapsed, the Eurozone entered a deep economic crisis and my country lost over 25% of its GDP entering a humanitarian crisis. As the leader of SYRIZA- a left-wing political party - I saw all around me in Europe, and especially in my country, that the burden of paying for the economic crisis was not falling on the powerful elites who had made the decisions that led us to this crisis. Instead, the heaviest weight of the crisis was falling on the most vulnerable. In addition, the burden of dealing humanely with the worst refugee crisis in 80 years, was falling on first entry countries like Turkey and Greece. The crisis in Greece created favorable conditions for the rise of a Neonazi party. Their ideology was an ideology of hatred. Hatred against foreigners. Hatred against immigrants. Hatred against gay people. Hatred against neighbouring countries, including Turkey. These were also the years when my two sons were born.

We could all see that their generation would have to face a much more difficult future than ours. The times called for a new program to pull the country out of the economic crisis and austerity measures, to defend the less advantaged, to strengthen our institutions and to address the migration crisis. This time we were not only demonstrating, or creating a movement or a party. We were gaining power.

We won the elections in 2015 and as Prime Minister I now had the responsibility to fight for a better future from a position of power. After some very difficult years, we managed to get Greece out of the economic programs imposed by our creditors, to restructure our debt and to return the country to a path of growth, while protecting the most vulnerable. At the same time, after complicated negotiations we managed to solve the name issue which had divided Greece and our neighbours, North Macedonia, for over 27 years.

We stood against nationalist forces and passed the Agreement. We proved to the rest of the world, that here in the Balkans, resolving international differences peacefully and protecting your national interests is possible, if there is political will and mutual respect. We, also, managed to bring the refugee crisis under control, supporting a difficult agreement between the European Union and Turkey. In the most challenging times, after the terrible coup attempt in Turkey, we maintained peace and cooperation in the Aegean and we organized the first visit of a Turkish President to Athens after 65 years. One of my proudest moments as Prime Minister was in the summer of 2016, in Lesvos when I had the honour to stand with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos, Pope Francis and the Archbishop Ieronimos of Greece.

Together we sent a powerful message to the world, that we refuse to make the Aegean a sea of hatred and a region which breads hostility to fellow human beings forced to leave their homes under tragic conditions. We declared that we refuse to push back into the sea, people who are trying to save their lives and the lives of their children. Our principles as nations are strong if we are ready to protect those whose lives are in danger.

Abraham Lincoln once said that the true character of a human being is tested when they hold power. And I know that all of you here today, will one day hold power in some capacity. As great scientists, as business people, as politicians or as leaders in your fields. Of course, having the power to change things is challenging.

Realising your aims in life is important.But the biggest challenge of all, is how you use the power you have: Will you have the patience to listen? Will you have the courage to acknowledge your failures? Will you show solidarity with those weaker than yourself?

There will be many times that you will succeed, and many times when you will fail. And, then, you should always think, how you develop as the world changes around you and what principles you stand for. You are the generation that will have to live with the consequences of the climate crisis unless politicians, business leaders and the international bodies take drastic measures. And unless we citizens pressure them to take such decisions, things will not change. But your generation is already witnessing the unfolding of a new era for humanity. A new historical period, characterised by the digital condition and artificial intelligence.

The diploma you hold in your hands helps you to understand the new opportunities this revolution brings in medicine, commerce, computing, communication and energy. But you must also recognize and see that the possibilities increase for abuse of these technologies in relation to citizens’ freedoms and the deepening of inequalities.

World poverty, immigration, war, the destruction of the world’s natural habitats are not “natural catastrophes”: they are consequences of human choices. Like the choices you will be faced with. In this context, you need to find the flexibility to develop your outlook as the world changes while preserving your principles and values.

I have also changed very much from the time I was a member of the student movement, to becoming an activist, a party leader and a Prime Minister, then a party leader again and a former Prime Minister. I have changed from being a young student to becoming a professional, to becoming a father and having a family.

And just like I have many moments I am proud of, I know that there are many issues on which I made mistakes, didn’t succeed or disappointed others. Or achieved less than I promised. These experiences have made me more determined to improve, but also more committed to fighting with others to shape our common future..

Especially today that we are facing crucial challenges it is more than important to fight together for a better life, in our neighborhood, our countries, in Europe and in the broader region.

We need to fight for a new social contract and a more progressive Europe. And fight for democracy, human rights and the rule of law, against the extreme right and nationalist forces which are becoming stronger and stronger everywhere. We need an effective, fair and humane European migration policy that respects international law and strengthens cooperation with countries of origin and transit.

We must address the causes of immigration -war and climate change- and not just the effects of displaced populations. We need to do all we can for peace on the basis of international law with an end to the Russian invasion in Ukraine. We must use all diplomatic means to put an end to Israeli operations in Gaza which have led to the deaths of thousands of innocent people. And for the restart of talks for the establishment of a Palestinian State based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Living side by side in peace with Israel.

I regret, that we did not succeed in resolving the Cyprus issue in 2017 in Switzerland. We need to continue our efforts for a just and viable solution to the Cyprus question on the basis of UN Resolutions, which will reunite the island to the benefit of all the people of Cyprus, Greek-cypriots and Turkish-cypriots. And in this present period of relative calm in Greek-Turkish relations, we need to work hard in order to refer the delimitation of our continental shelf and exclusive economic zone to the Hague International Court. The peoples of Greece and Turkey, deserve a future of peace on the basis of international law. And on the basis of these crucial steps in the Eastern Mediterranean, the prospect for the upgrading of EU-Turkey relations as a whole, can and should open.

As your great poet Nazim Hikmet has said, the most beautiful sea is one that we have not yet sailed through. This should be the Eastern Mediterranean. A sea of respect of our mutual sovereignty and sovereign rights. A sea of peace and cooperation. To achieve this, we need to build respect and trust on the basis of international law.

Trust takes time to build, but can be destroyed in an instant. It cannot be gained through a few grand gestures. It is not about being heroic. It is about being persistent, keeping your mind open, but your eyes focused on the goal. We all have to contribute: by putting aside our prejudices, by getting to know better, each other and our young people.

Today, I speak to you with all this in mind. A few weeks ago I founded in Greece, a new Institute and we just completed our first international conference, exactly six years after the signing of the Prespa Agreement with North Macedonia. Our goal is to produce progressive policies for Peace, Justice and Sustainable Growth. Highlighting that the time for progressive change is now and we do not have the luxury to kick the can down the road on any of the crucial issues for our common future.

Dear friends,

Exactly one year ago, I announced publicly my decision to resign from the front line of politics after 15 consecutive years as the Leader of my Party. A few days later I was walking in a central street of Athens and a young Turkish man approached me and surprised me by telling me not to give up.

He said that Turkish people have a saying: Boyun eğme - Keep your head high, he said. This I will always remember.

So today, one year later, as I congratulate you on your graduation, I would like to say these words. For all the great moments and all the challenges that lie ahead of you.

For all you will have to fight for: in your lives, for your country, your families or your future. You must develop as a human being, while preserving your principle and always remember: “Boyun eğmeyin!”