Erdoğan: Turkey works ‘with might and main’ for youth

Turkey works "with might and main" to raise “well-equipped” youth in the country, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Saturday.

"We are working with might and main to build our future on a stable foundation and to raise well-equipped youth," Erdoğan said at the Turkish Youth Summit in Istanbul.

Erdoğan said Turkey aims to widen the imagination of the youth instead of enclosing them with bans.

"Our common responsibility is to prepare a ground where the youth will not fall into the swamp of terror, violence, drugs and nihilism," he said.

The president noted Turkey has increased the total number of youth centers to 286, which stood at nine in 2002, and also the number of sport facilities were increased from 1,575 to 3,567.

Erdoğan said the government is converting the historical Rami Artillery Quarters, built in the 1770s in Eyup district on the European side of Istanbul, into Turkey's biggest library.