When looking at this photo, maybe it is nothing but a crowded aviation show. But if you allow me, I would like to share something that remains in my heart. Look, the dream of these young people is to become a good engineer, to design an aircraft, a rocket or even a spacecraft in the future. The dream of the children on the shoulders of their fathers is to be a pilot in one of those vehicles, maybe even a space traveller. Some of the middle-aged men and women have spent most of their lives in economic hardship, missed most of their lives, maybe most of them are the first generation to migrate to the city.
I see this kind of semi-military, semi-civilian, army-industry-public meetings as very valuable in terms of feeling our collective power to the bone and getting closer to the essence of Atatürkism. Just because of that this is much more than an aviation festival, it is almost like a modern-day military parade. What many of you have inherited from your families, some of them are just now beginning to discover. The state is the state of all of us and Atatürk, who gifted it to us, is the Atatürk of all of us. The people who touched these aeroplanes, maybe not all of them today, but many of them today, felt us, opened the doors to think like us. They understand how they can eliminate learned helplessness. They understand what they can leave to their children after years of wasted time, and they understand our collective power. Once you realise this, the rest comes like a bolt from the blue.