Ankara
By Andac Hongur and Hatice Senses Kurukiz
ISTANBUL
Turkey's president said Saturday that the government is fighting those who openly support terrorism and spread terrorist propaganda.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of Fourth Ibn Haldun Symposium at Istanbul's Halic Congress Center, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Turkish government does not take issue with "different thoughts".
"Nowhere in the world is spreading terrorist propaganda considered freedom of thought," he said.
"No modern state allows terrorist groups to infiltrate and turn universities into their educational camps".
Erdogan also said Ibn Haldun University will be ready to receive students starting this fall for the 2017-18 school year.
The university was founded in 2015 and has undergone two years of preparation.
Rachid Ghannouchi, the leader of Tunisia's Ennahda movement, was also present at the symposium.
Ghannouchi’s speech, like Erdogan’s, highlighted Ibn Haldun's contributions to scholarship.
Ibn Haldun, a 14th-century North African and Arab historian, is considered a forerunner of sociology and demography.
Erdogan and Ghannouchi also had a one-hour closed-door meeting at the congress center.
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