The Future of Science in Turkey Discussed at the Çankaya Table

The Future of Science in Turkey Discussed at the Çankaya Table

The President of the Turkish Republic H.E. Abdullah GÜL invited the representatives of the scientific community in Turkey to the Traditional Çankaya Table at his Presidential domicile.

             Attending the luncheon taking place on 10 April 2013, were the Chairman of the Board of Higher Education (YÖK), Prof. Dr. Gökhan Çetinsaya; the Chairman of Atatürk Higher Institution of Culture, Language and History, Prof. Dr. Derya Örs; President of the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA), Prof. Dr. Ahmet Cevat Acar; Chairman of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), Prof. Dr. Yücel Altunbaşak; art critic Prof. Dr. Hasan Bülent Kahraman and columnist İsmet Berkan.

            Accentuating the significance of producing technology and using it, President Gül said no country can be accepted as a great one if it only transfers technology rather than produces it. He further shared his pleasure with the competition for perfection between the Turkish universities and said some of them are among the top 500 universities in the world, pointing to the increase in the number of publications by Turkish academics. He also reiterated the importance of turning research into innovation and technology.

            The attendants of the Çankaya Table discussed such topics as  problems of academicians in the basic and social sciences, related solutions, the progress of Turkish scientists and academicians and what should be done further, including the measures that can be taken for the cooperation between the public and private sectors, between universities and the business sector, the rate of increase in the allocation for R&D in the budget in the last decade, the need for encouraging children and the youth to be interested in both basic and social sciences and problems of secondary and higher education in Turkey.