ANKARA, 25 March 2016: Turkish Minister for
National Education Mr. Nabi Avci was the chief guest at the awards ceremony of
the “Jinnah Young Writers Award” essay competition, held in Ankara yesterday
(24 March).
The Award, named
after the Founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, is the
initiative of the Pakistan Embassy, instituted with the support of the Pakistan
Foreign Ministry and organized in collaboration with the Turkish Ministry of
National Education. The theme for the first edition of the prestigious award was
“Pakistan-Turkey Relations: A Historical Perspective.”
Speaking on the
occasion, Minister Nabi Avci paid rich tributes to the leadership of the Quaid-e-Azam
and highlighted the high esteem in which he is held in Turkey. Offering his
best wishes for “eternal” Pakistan-Turkey relations, he said these were rooted deep
in history and that the two countries had always stood by each other in good and
bad times. He added that the Turkish nation would never forget the support and solidarity
shown by the people of Pakistan during the Turkish War of Independence. The Minister
also highlighted growing bilateral cooperation in the education field and highlighted
the large number of Pakistani students at various institutions of higher
learning in Turkey, exceeding more than 1,000. Minister Avci reiterated the commitment
to further expand bilateral educational cooperation and concluded the speech by
saying “Jeevay Pakistan; Jeevay Turkey” and “Long live Pakistan; Long live
Turkey.”
Ambassador Sohail
Mahmood, in his remarks, commended the participating students for their participation
in the competition and presenting rich information and perspectives in their
essays. He said the Embassy’s endeavor in instituting this annual Award was to
reach out to the younger generation and acquaint them with the depth of shared
ties of faith, culture and history between Pakistan and Turkey. The response “illustrates
both the keen interest of the students and their contributions to further advancing
the Pakistan-Turkey relationship,” he added. Highlighting the growing level of collaboration
in the fields of education and culture, Ambassador Sohail Mahmood expressed the
confidence that the graph of people-to-people exchanges would continue to rise.
Earlier, Director
General of EU and International Relations of the National Education Ministry
Funda KOCABIYIK in her welcome speech gave details about the competition. She
said the competition was announced for the senior high school students of the
81 provinces of Turkey. Overall, a total of 69 short-listed essays were received
for the completion from 46 provinces across Turkey. Of these, 44 were
contributed by female students and 25 by male students.
Winners of the first,
second and third prizes received their awards from Education Minister Nabi
Avci, Ambassador Sohail Mahmood, and Deputy Minister for Education Orhan Erdem.
Emre Karakuyu of Konya Selçuklu Dolapoğlu Anadolu Lisesi secured the first
position; Mehmet Furkan Onay of Ankara Atatürk Lisesi secured second position;
while Ebrar Saliha Kopmaz of Sivas Selçuklu Anadolu Lisesi clinched third
position. Essays written by Özge Işıklıoğlu of Balıkesir T.C. Ziraat Bankası
Fen Lisesi, Özgür Baran Tunç of Gaziantep N. Fazıl Kısakürek Anadolu Lisesi and
Rümeysa Aydın of Yalova Anadolu İmam Hatip Lisesi were awarded the “Honorable Mention.”
The
participating students, teachers and the families deeply appreciated the event
and felt that this initiative would go a long way in further raising awareness about
various dimensions of Pakistan-Turkey relations and reinforcing public support
for this special relationship.
More Photos from https://goo.gl/9vIywi
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