Addressing the OECD Skills Summit 2026, President Erdoğan said: “Let me once again clearly state that qualified human resource, strong family structure, productive economy and inclusive social development lie at the center of our Century of Türkiye vision.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Skills Summit 2026 in Istanbul.
“Information is one of the greatest sources of power for a country”
Drawing attention to the changes occurring in production types and professions in parallel with the developments taking place in technology, President Erdoğan said the element, which will determine the success of countries in the current period, will likely to be the quality of human capital, and that he considers the main theme of the Summit, which is “Unlocking Talent Across Generations”, to be accurate in this regard.
Underscoring that information is one of the greatest sources of power for a country, company or a person, President Erdoğan noted that processing, using, transforming and adjusting information is as important as having it, and added: “In this sense, I would like to draw attention to a striking reality. According to the OECD’s evaluations, a decline is taking place in students’ basic skills, teacher workforce is aging, and education systems are needed to be reshaped. We no longer live in a period when learning starts at school desks and ends with a diploma. On the contrary, today, learning refers to a dynamic process expanding into all spheres of life.”
"Unlocking hidden talents is a moral responsibility as well as an economic need”
Stating that one of the issues they attach importance to is the education of adults, President Erdoğan said that adults updating their skills, gaining expertise in new areas and adapting themselves to changes are of critical importance for everyone, and went on to say: “Flexible education models, career guidance mechanisms and efficient partnerships built with employers will be determining in workforce markets. To be more precise, lifelong learning will determine not only the careers of individuals, but also the competitive power of countries. Unlocking hidden talents, in this regard, is a moral responsibility today as well as an economic need.”
Stressing that Türkiye continues its reforms in every area, from education to employment, and workforce policies to social protection, President Erdoğan continued as follows: “Common work models are undergoing a drastic change in the increasingly digitalizing world. This process creates new work opportunities on one hand, and increases the risk of illegal employment on the other. However, thanks to the measures we have taken, we have made noteworthy achievements in our fight against illegal employment in the past 23 years. We managed to decrease the illegal employment rate, which was over 52 per cent in the early 2000s, to some 24 per cent in 2025.”
Further noting that they have achieved this in a period when they have obtained the best results in the past 23 years in terms of unemployment and employment rates in a conjuncture, during which illegal employment has increased at global level, President Erdoğan said: “Let me once again clearly state that qualified human resource, strong family structure, productive economy and inclusive social development lie at the center of our Century of Türkiye vision. However, skill policies is not an area that public institutions can manage all by themselves. This issue requires a strong cooperation between state and private sector, universities, trade unions, local administrations and civil society.”
