The opening ceremony of the 2025-2026 Academic Year at OSTİM Technical University was held with the first lecture titled "Palestine." The first lecture was given by Murat İkinci, General Manager of Roketsan.
The academic year opening speeches were delivered by OSTİM Technical University Rector Prof. Dr. Murat Yülek and OSTİM Board Chairman and OSTİM Technical University Board of Trustees Chairman Orhan Aydın.
“Our students are preparing for the skills of the future”
OSTİM Technical University Rector Prof. Dr. Murat Yülek highlighted Roketsan's importance for Turkey. Yülek stated, "Roketsan is a very important company for us. It is one of the leading companies employing our graduates. Our graduates successfully continue their careers in leading Turkish defense industry organizations such as Roketsan, Havelsan, Aselsan, and TUSAŞ."
Referring to the vision of a 3rd generation university, Rector Yülek stated: “We see it as our most fundamental duty to train the human resources necessary for Turkey to reach a prominent position in the world with its products. Today, as a university located in the heart of the industrial world, we are developing a unique OSTİMTECH model that prepares our students for the competencies of the future with a start-up ecosystem, technopark, and entrepreneurship center.”
(The text ends abruptly here, likely due to a copy-paste error.) Highlighting the OSTİM production ecosystem, Prof. Dr. Murat Yülek said, “We are in a campus with such a large ecosystem, with more than 6,500 factories. Young people, this ecosystem does not exist in any other country or university in the world. We need to be aware of this. In this respect, I am a very fortunate rector.”
Expressing that the massacre in Gaza deeply wounded the conscience of humanity, Yülek conveyed the following messages: “Although the declared ceasefire is late, it is an important step for the people of the region to be able to breathe. However, establishing lasting peace is possible not only by stopping the conflicts, but also by guaranteeing justice, human rights, and freedom. As OSTİM Technical University, we will continue to stand against oppression, wherever it may be in the world, and on the side of peace, science, and humanity.”
For the good of the world
Orhan Aydın, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of OSTİM Technical University, emphasized that OSTİM Technical University, established with OSTİM's experience and expertise spanning over half a century, is a university that sets out with the intention of creating a livable world and building a new one.
Stating that they are fighting on the production side for the construction of a livable world, President Aydın said: “Hopefully, we will further crown this with the work done by our university in the field of science and technology. Because the world has unfortunately become unlivable. We live in a world that increases uncertainties in the future. Unfortunately, the ideology that creates this unrest is not one that will be stopped by peace. They have made this war, this racist imperialism, their religion, so there is only one power that can stop them here, and that is science and technology. Otherwise, it does not seem possible to make this world livable.”
As OSTİM Technical University and OSTİM Technopark, we are embarking on this journey with this intention. Together with our esteemed professors and students, we will hopefully make the world a more livable place. Why are we doing this? For the good of the world. Our reason for being in this world is to develop, improve, and make this world a livable place; this is our philosophy of life. I express my respect and gratitude to our martyrs in Palestine and to the martyrs and veterans who entrusted this country to us in the past. I wish the new academic year brings blessings.”
Roketsan is the first institution to send Turkey into space using its own technology.
Roketsan General Manager Murat İkinci met with OSTİM Technical University students at the opening lecture of the academic year. İkinci shared insightful information with the students about the air defense and space studies conducted at Roketsan.
Second, drawing attention to the fact that the value of Turkey's defense industry investments is being seen through these times, said, "We are going through a world process where the strong dictate the rules and the weak suffer oppression, both in Gaza and in many parts of the world. We are all witnessing how accurate a decision our country's efforts, especially after the Cyprus Peace Operation, in establishing an independent defense industry, and the point it has reached, have been in terms of our country's future, security, and the future of our children."
Murat İkinci, explaining that they develop smart missile and rocket systems used by the Turkish Armed Forces and more than 40 countries, shared the following information: “Roketsan’s most important asset is actually its qualified human resources. Roketsan currently has more than 6,500 employees. More than 3,000 of them are involved in R&D activities. R&D activities are very important for the development of critical technologies.”
General Manager İkinci stated that one of Roketsan's most important areas of work is space, saying, "We don't only work on rocket and missile technologies. One of our most important areas is space. Roketsan currently has the task of designing and implementing launch vehicles that will carry our own satellite into space in Turkey. We are striving with all our might to fulfill this task. Roketsan is the first institution to send Turkey into space with its own technology. We have repeatedly launched our own products into space with our rockets and successfully conducted our tests in space. Our current task is to produce vehicles that will carry our own satellites into space."
First lesson: Palestine
In her statement to the international public, Tasneem Lubbad, a Gazan student pursuing a master's degree at OSTİM Technical University as part of the "First Lesson: Palestine" program, said: “Today I stand before you not only as a student at OSTİM Technical University, but also as a daughter of Gaza, a survivor, and someone who witnessed one of the darkest periods of our time.
I come from Gaza — one of the most wounded but also the most resilient lands in the world.
I was once a teacher, a translator, and a karate instructor.
On December 22nd, two rockets changed everything.
I survived, albeit wounded, but I lost my home, my loved ones, my health, and my past.
Yet I am here today because Gaza taught me a sacred word:
Ṣumūd — “Never abandoning one's humanity, no matter how cruel the world may be.”
I am a voice from Gaza — a voice whose very hope has been targeted, but which has never surrendered.
What is happening is not just a tragedy; it is a test of humanity for the world.
And each of us must have an answer to this test.
Raise your voice.
Provide training.
Boycott those who profit from oppression.
But at least, refuse to remain silent.”
“We need to change the world”
Zeynel Abidin Özkan, an activist from the Sumud Flotilla, noted that they witnessed the rise of awareness regarding making the world a livable place through the Sumud Flotilla.
Özkan stated: “We are on the ground to fight not the people of Gaza, but those who occupied the land and, with the technology they have created through the economy, may apply the genocide they are carrying out in Gaza today to a different region tomorrow. This genocide began after the October 7th Al-Aqsa Flood.”
We need to change the world. Because those who create the world's monetary system, trade, and technology are using it to commit massacres in Gaza.
Hopefully, communities with the vision and foresight to build a livable world of tomorrow together will emerge from here.
From now on, all your creations should be aimed at changing the world and leaving a livable world for future generations.
We must all live together in a world where all people live in security of intellect, lineage, life, property, and religion. It is in all of our hands to establish this. The Zionists and the imperialists who support them are not strong. Right now, only we are weak and lagging behind. Together, we will build this.”
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