A few days ago, the Turkish Embassy in Islamabad held a farewell gathering for Pakistani exchange students going to Turkey. Most of the 100 students and academics will arrive in Turkey on the coming Tuesday. Then they will go on to a number of cities countrywide in the exchange programme which includes 53 universities.

Turkey awards about 4,000 scholarships to students from all over the world annually, selected from a total number of 82,000 applicants this year.

Under the Turkish exchange programme, a one-year Turkish language course is provided to all students before the beginning of their studies in their respective universities and departments. The scholarship covers a monthly stipend, accommodation, health insurance, university fees and a return air ticket to and from Pakistan.

Speaking on the occasion, Turkish Ambassador Babur Girgin told the scholarship holders and their family members who attended the gathering that the people of Turkey and Pakistan see each other as close brothers and sisters.

The families should rest assured that the scholarship holders would be welcomed as Turkey’s own children, he said. Student exchange and other university cooperation lead to lasting friendship between the countries. The Pakistani students will be ambassadors in Turkey while studying there, and then they will be bridgeheads between Turkey and Pakistan when they return home.

“I am very excited about having been given this opportunity," said a student from Peshawar. “I have always been interested in Turkey, a country mixing traditional Islamic values with Western modernisation," he said.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2014