Türkiye has taken serious steps to increase student interest and involvement in sports as it serves as a tool to counter all sorts of addictions, Youth and Sports Minister Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu said Thursday.

Speaking at A Spor’s "Youth and Sports Summit in the Century of Türkiye" at the Turkuvaz Media Center in Istanbul, Kasapoğlu said instilling the love for sports starts in the family and continues with public institutions.

He noted that his ministry has launched a joint project with the Education Ministry to lead primary school students to pick a sports branch and focus on it and be licensed by the time they finish grade four.

"Sports is a tool to fight all sorts of evil, it is an important instrument," the minister said.

He continued by saying that Türkiye has also made serious progress in terms of sports facilities in the past two decades.

"Wherever you go in Türkiye, you’ll find a perfect platform to meet demand in each sports branch," he said.

The ministry created a "skills map" of Türkiye by analyzing the skills of 6.3 million youth in the country, he said. Kasapoğlu that the ministry has a scientific infrastructure to look for skills and encourage them, whereas before, skilled athletes would be discovered by chance.

"It is also quite important that families stand with their children in this regard. I especially admire the efforts of mothers," he said, adding that mothers are as devoted as athletes themselves.