President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan highlighted Türkiye’s centuries-old medical tradition and the importance of institutional continuity as he inaugurated new hospital facilities and launched construction projects at Istanbul University’s Çapa and Esenyurt campuses.
Speaking Saturday at a groundbreaking and opening ceremony at Istanbul University’s Çapa Faculty of Medicine campus, Erdoğan said the country’s healthcare institutions had played a significant role in preserving national identity, supporting independence and serving the public across generations.
“Our state tradition is founded on continuity,” Erdoğan said. “Our ancestors, who said, ‘Keep people alive so the state may live,’ reflected their understanding of the state’s eternal existence in our institutions as well.”
He added that these institutions belonged not only to the state but also to the nation, helping shape Türkiye’s struggle for independence and its future.
The ceremony marked the opening of the Internal Medicine Hospital at the Çapa campus and the Esenyurt Hospital, while construction began on the Orthopedics and Traumatology Hospital, the second surgical hospital and Deniz Abdal Mosque.
Erdoğan wished the new facilities success, saying they would benefit Istanbul, Türkiye and its people. He also thanked the Health Ministry, Istanbul University, the construction company and the workers, engineers, civil servants and other personnel involved in the projects.
He extended his appreciation to healthcare professionals across the country, praising doctors, surgeons, nurses, caregivers and administrative staff for their dedication to providing quality medical services. He also wished patients who would receive treatment at the new facilities a healthy and fulfilling life.
Erdoğan said Türkiye had a substantial legacy in both medical practice and scientific education, arguing that medicine had historically been regarded as more than an ordinary profession.
“Being a physician has never been considered an ordinary profession among us,” he said, describing doctors as individuals who pursued wisdom as well as medical knowledge.
He pointed to the hospitals and medical institutions established across Anatolia from the 13th century onward, saying they demonstrated the region’s longstanding contribution to healthcare while parts of Europe experienced some of their darkest periods during the Middle Ages.
The president also traced the history of Istanbul Faculty of Medicine to institutions established during the Ottoman Empire, describing the faculty as an inheritance passed down through generations.
He cited the Fatih Darüşşifası, established on the orders of Sultan Mehmed II, also known as Mehmed the Conqueror, as an early foundation for medical education. The institution later developed through successive stages, including the establishment of Tıphane-i Amire by Sultan Mahmud II on March 14, 1827, which Erdoğan described as the country’s first modern medical school.
With the addition of Cerrahhane-i Amire, the institution took the names Mekteb-i Tıbbiye-i Şahane and Darülfünun Faculty of Medicine in 1839 before eventually becoming Istanbul Faculty of Medicine.
Erdoğan said this history illustrated how Türkiye’s institutions had maintained their identity and purpose through political and social changes.
He highlighted March 14, 1919, when Hikmet Bey and his colleagues raised the Turkish flag at the Imperial School of Medicine during the Allied occupation of Istanbul, describing the act as a declaration that the nation would not submit to foreign domination.
He also pointed to the role of humanitarian and civil society organizations, including the Turkish Red Crescent and the Green Crescent, during Türkiye’s War of Independence.
According to Erdoğan, the same spirit of solidarity and national determination resurfaced during the 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation, the July 15, 2016, coup attempt, the COVID-19 pandemic and the devastating earthquakes of Feb. 6, 2023.
The president congratulated Istanbul Faculty of Medicine as it prepares to mark its 200th anniversary next year, expressing confidence that the institution would continue to provide healthcare services and contribute to medical research for generations to come.
He said the faculty had produced internationally recognized figures throughout its two-century history and would continue making important contributions to medical literature while serving the nation.