YÖK President Erol Özvar stated that the “Terror-Free Turkey” goal put forward by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is of historic importance for peace, security and national unity.
In a letter sent to universities under Özvar’s signature, they were asked to address the goal with contributions from different disciplines, conduct academic research, and organize panels, conferences and workshops. A call was made to share scientific assessments with the public.
Why it matters
This call means that the goal will not remain merely a political discourse but will be brought onto the research and discussion agenda of universities. Involving different disciplines in the process envisages evaluating the issues of peace, security and national unity not from a single perspective but with contributions from various academic fields. Making scientific assessments available to the public could ensure that the knowledge produced at universities is shared with society and that the debate is supported by academic studies. However, the letter does not specify which issues universities should prioritize, which methods should be used to conduct the studies, or how the results will be communicated to the public. Therefore, the scope of the implementation, the nature of the events to be organized and the concrete outputs of the academic studies remain open questions.
Background
Turkey is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 23 news reports mentioning the country in the past 90 days; the most recent one is dated 31 August 2026.