18 May. 2010
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is awared an Honorary Doctorate by Universidad Europea de Madrid
Universidad Europea de Madrid
To mark the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures, Universidad Europea de Madrid has paid homage to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey for his dedication and support for projects that promote understanding and reconciliation between peoples.
This morning Universidad Europea de Madrid conferred the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa on Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, for his dedication and support of projects that promote understanding and reconciliation between peoples and his commitment to the values of the Alliance of Civilizations.
In his inaugural address, the new Honorary Doctor placed special emphasis on the close links that unite Spain and Turkey, countries which promote the Alliance of Civilizations on the firm belief that “conflicts do not benefit humanity (…). We must not build our future on the memories of the past, but base our actions on freedom and solidarity in order to achieve the common good”. He also highlighted the responsibility that international media has in reporting such matters to society: “the generalization and expansion of the mass media should not encourage prejudice but rather fight against injustice”.
Halil Guvën, Rector of Bilgi University (Istanbul) was responsible for giving the Citation or “Laudatio” in which he paid homage to the work of the Prime Minister: “Erdoğan has made important advances in the prevention of corruption and has promoted the democratization and growth of Turkey (…). His words ‘we need neither a cold war nor a hot war, but constructive peace’ have positioned our country and, he himself, as a partner of trust in international relations”.
In the words of Águeda Benito, Rector of Universidad Europea de Madrid, “it is an honor for us to recognize the fighting spirit, the courage, the capacity for providing solutions and the social commitment and leadership of the person who created, set up and, together with the President of our Government, has continuously promoted the so-called Alliance of Civilizations (…). Prime Minister Erdoğan today becomes a member of our faculty, standing beside excellent professors such as Juan Antonio Samaranch, the symbol of the modern Olympic Games and Spanish ambassador to the world, whose loss we deeply regret, Enrique V. Iglesias, Mario Vargas Llosa, Pedro Alonso, Luis Bassat and Nelson Mandela”.
Douglas L. Becker, President and CEO of Laureate International Universities, the network to which Universidad Europea de Madrid belongs, also wished to highlight Erdoğan as a model of leadership for young people worldwide.
Within the framework of the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures, Universidad Europea de Madrid wishes to recognize the work of people whose role in social and political areas has served to bring nations closer together through dialogue for peace. The Turkish Prime Minister, who Time magazine has recognized as one of the 100 most influential persons in the world and one of the 25 most outstanding international political leaders, has promoted the relationship of his country with other political leaders and has devoted his efforts to the achievement of Turkey’s membership of the European Union.
Universidad Europea de Madrid is a member of the Laureate International Universities Network, leader in Higher Education, with nearly 600,000 students in 50 institutions spanning 21 countries. Currently, UEM has more than 12,500 students, distributed among seven Schools and four Graduate Centers. Its work is based on three fundamental values: internationality, a focus on employability and a commitment to 21st Century academic quality, which has resulted in the University becoming the leader in the adaptation to the European Higher Education Area in Spain.
It is the first university in the world to have received the Qualicert quality certification and the first Spanish university to achieve ISO 14001 for its campus at Villaviciosa de Odón. It has also received other official recognitions such as EFQM 200+ for its management system and EFQM 300+ for its library service management system.