Mehmet SEKMEN
Mayor of Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality
Our brave daughters and valiant sons, whose determination, industrious and productivity know no bounds. Our efforts are not to prepare you for the future, but to wake you up.
You need to know the past to make good use of the time you are in. We know that we must learn from history. But we are well aware that it would be pointless to read history to stay stuck in the past and repeat the past.
I would like to tell you from the experience of being very old that life is peaceful and beautiful only with balance.
Everything was good in the past. Everything will be fine in the future. These two false sentences are extreme and do not enlarge our hearts and minds. Living the present correctly by learning lessons from the past carries us to a better future.
The books you are reading now, you will know the past well and you will get to know the precious people who have shaped the present.
In this way, you will learn the keys to how to do good works and you will unlock the locks and you will start to take more correct steps. The information left in the book is dry and useless. knowledge becomes better with action and it becomes meaningful.
The book set of the “Children Making History” (Tarih Yazan Çocuklar) project, which is the work of a serious study, will arouse your curiosity, enlighten your way, and revive your hopes. So it will enable you to work for a better future.
The great people who are the subject of these books, those who wrote the book and prepared it for printing, and we, who made the books reach you, have fulfilled our duty. now it’s your turn.
Now is the time to start working for our country, our nation and a peaceful world. Enlarge your steps without leaving it until tomorrow and saying we are still children. with the power provided by knowledge and the energy it adds.
I warmly greet you all.