The event began with a moment  of silence and  National Anthem. Board Member of Atatürkist Thought Club Yiğit Önder Akbulak made the opening speech of the event. Akbulak said in his speech that  it  should be understood all aspect of the Atatürk rightly  and he invited all students of Marmara University to the seminar which will be  held for this purpose on December 29-30, 2018. Akbulak invited Başbuğ on the stage to deliver his speech by saying “ Dear Mr. İlker Başbuğ, 26th Commander of the Turkish Armed Forces, inspired us to overvome a struggle by taking  a tough  stance against members of the Gülenist Terrorist Organization, who disguised  themselves as  judge and prosecutor, after being arrested within the scope of  Ergenekon compass, as part of a plan to overthrow  Turkish Military. We thanked him for accepting our invitation”.

Başbuğ began his speech by saying “The history is brutal for the people who have not taken a lesson from the past. The best way to understand tomorrow is from experience about  yesterday and today” and continued “ The main principle of the republic system is the democracy. Democracy is designed in order to reach an agreement, but main condition is the liberal pluralism because it is not  possible to reach an agreement each time. A demand of the pluralism  is accepted as a law in democracy. However, it is essential to respect the right to  freedom of thought of the minorities. But the freedom should not be unlimited.  There needs to be a balance between freedom and security of peoples”.

"The First Assembly Is the Most Democratic One In the History of Turkish Republic" 

Başbuğ discussed with the students  about the transition process of  Turkey in the first years of republic. Emphasizing that first assembly is the most democratic one, “ The first assembly includes all the point of views. The common point of those different views was to win the independence war. All issues and laws were approved and discussed thoroughly by this assembly during the war” he said.  Başbuğ, talking about the importance given  by Atatürk to the  assembly,  continued his speech by saying “Atatürk stated his opinion for discussions about “regular army or assembly, which one should be firstly established” by saying “the financial  resource of the army is the public, so it needs the assembly of the public should make a decision about its utilisation”.

"Founding Turkish Republic is the Result of a Revolution"

He continued his speech by saying “One of the essential  points of the democracy is political parties.  The period of Atatürk is a  transation to the democracy. The reason why a  democracy  couldn’t be established is the foundation of a party by the interest groups which were opposed to revolutions. The founding a Republic in Turkey is a revolution. In those periods,  it is seen the unity of power. In 1946, it was occured the transition from single party to a multi party system. The reason why it was waited until this date is the conditions caused by  the Second World War. In the new world order after the war, international conditions obliged Turkey to move into multi party system”.

26th Commander of the Turkish Armed Forces İlker Başbuğ was presented a plaquette by the  President of Atatürkist Thought Club Ozan Attepe in the end of the speech.