Conversations with Turkey's Career Pioneers - Namık Tan

The first guest of TED career pioneers talks this year was former Ambassador Namık Tan. Mr. Tan was here for a presentation of his profession. He started his words with mentioning how meaningful and sentimental it was to be in these buildings again. Mr. Tan said that as he made a living by talking, he liked to talk very much. He mentioned that it was essential to have differences, a sense of uniqueness between individuals not only in personal relations but also in relations at states level. He said that the reason Turkey is being at the center of attention these days is because of it’s uniqueness within the 57 Islamic states.

Mr. Tan stated that to make a difference, people should learn to “think big”, but our education system is designed to identify the weaknesses and manage them rather than creating a positive attitude and encouragement. Nobody learns to thank and be thankful. Whereas in other countries not only the winners but also the non-winners are rewarded. This does not exist in our culture. Another way of thinking big comes from learning the culture of common living and this can only be achieved by giving, being transparent, being accountable, professionalism, and depending on law and trust.

Mr. Tan said, he believed, the education system should focus on practical information rather than spending time on information we will never use in our lives. He stressed that a person without foreign language skills can never be a world citizen. One should never put learning a foreign language in 3rd place in his/her priorities. If people cannot connect well with their counterparts they would always be insecure and skeptical. Mr. Tan also stated that we should always put our country’s interests first. He advised that to achieve all this, the students should work very hard, have confidence and think positive. He stated that if anyone decides to become a diplomat it would be a very important career decision and he highly recommends it. Mr. Tan concluded by answering questions of students.