The Academic Opening Ceremony for the 2023-2024 Academic Year held at PAU Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Yılmaz Congress and Culture Center was attended by the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Prof. Dr. Numan Kurtulmuş, former Minister of Economy, AK Party MKYK Member and Vice President for Economic Affairs Nihat Zeybekci, AK Party Denizli MP and Member of the Constitutional Commission of the Grand National Assembly Av. Cahit Özkan, Denizli Governor Ömer Faruk Coşkun, Mayor of Denizli Metropolitan Municipality (DBB) Osman Zolan, Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kutluhan, Vice Rectors Prof. Dr. Necip Atar and Prof. Dr. Durmuş Akalın, provincial protocol members, deans, academicians and students.

At the Academic Opening, which was held with great interest of the students, Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Prof. Dr. Numan Kurtulmuş, PAU Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kutluhan and the Provincial Protocol visited the stands of Teknofest Teams, student communities, Palestinian students studying at PAU, and the exhibition consisting of the works of Buldan Vocational School Fashion Design Program students and received information from the students.

After the moment of silence and the reading of the National Anthem, the Academic Opening Ceremony continued with the opening speeches of Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kutluhan.

Following the opening speeches, the ceremony continued with the Academic Opening Lecture of Pamukkale University 2023-2024 Academic Year by the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Prof. Dr. Numan Kurtulmuş.

GNAT Speaker Kurtulmuş: "We are going through perhaps one of the most difficult and darkest periods in human history"

Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Prof. Dr. Numan Kurtulmuş made the following remarks in his speech for Pamukkale University 2023-2024 Academic Year Academic Opening Lecture "I am very pleased to be in this hall with you at Pamukkale University's 2023-2024 Academic Year Opening Ceremony.  I wish each and every one of you to have a successful academic year. We are going through a really difficult period. We are going through perhaps one of the most difficult and darkest periods in human history. I am not only talking about the genocide committed by Israel against Palestine and the human tragedy that continues every day in front of the eyes of the world. 

Before that, and in recent times, we have encountered huge economic, social, political and even environmental problems that concern our world as a whole. In essence, after the Cold War, which was established after World War II and lasted for 45 years, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 90s, we realize together that there is no new system left in the world, that the world system is in complete disarray, and that we are experiencing a period of great problems in every economic, social and cultural field. Let's take the environment as an example. There are professors among you who have studies on the environment. Instead of talking about how we can overcome these environmental problems, or discussing each of these problems one by one, such as poverty, famine, hunger or the global hunger in Africa, we need to focus on how the world has become like this, what is the main issue behind all these economic, social and political problems in the world.  In my opinion, what lies behind the different problems is the collapse of a global system that has ruled the world for the last two centuries with all its boards, rules and ideas. In other words, it is the bankruptcy of a paradigm. 

If there is so much, let's say, environmental pollution and destruction in the world, the main thing behind this is that people have established the wrong relationship with the environment.  While poison is flowing from all the rivers in Europe, let alone environmental pollution in the world, while environmental pollution caused by satellites in space is becoming a problem, we know that behind this is undoubtedly a paradigm, that is, the understanding of ruling the world.  We will work together to establish a new system based on fairness and justice, conscience, humanity and justice. We are shouting out to the whole world that efforts should be made to establish a new world within the framework of this truth that is in the eyes of the whole world. I hope that the establishment of a new world will be possible with the work of our universities and the work of our young people. Since the day we came to Anatolian lands as the Turkish nation, some forces have always tried to block the way for Turkey. But our nation has made it a national common issue for itself to move forward by setting a better goal, a higher goal. Now, thank God, in the first century of our Republic, we have gone through many difficulties, we have had many beautiful days, we have had many painful days. But thank God, we have come this far by completing our first century in freedom and independence with glory and honor. Now we need to set new goals in front of us. The people of this country, the youth of this country, must always go forward by setting new goals. No two days can be equal, we cannot even count where we are, let alone go backwards. For this reason, all institutions and organizations of Turkey should make the best use of the opportunities they have in order to make the coming period much stronger. No matter what they do, whether they are students, faculty members, academics, politicians, cultural people, sports people or business people, everyone will do their job in the best way possible and we will march towards our goals in unity and solidarity in order for this country to move forward in the direction of fully independent Turkey. We will head towards common goals. In the direction of a strong Turkey again and for the next century to be the century of Turkey, we will mobilize all the means at our disposal. But first we will continue on our way by mobilizing our minds and hearts to prepare Turkey for a strong century. We will put forward our different ideas in unity and solidarity. But every idea and proposal is for building a much stronger Turkey than today. May Allah help us. Once again, I wish our faculty members and students and their parents great success in the new academic year of Pamukkale University. God willing, we will leave these difficult days behind. We will make Turkey's century a century of influence in the world. By pioneering in every field, we will reach a result that will shed light and guide the nations of the world to get out of this situation they are in. May Allah make our promise strong."