The University of Karachi and Türkiye’s Younus Emre Institute inked the memorandum of understanding to establish a Turkish language and cultural center for the faculty and students on the campus on Thursday. Consul General of Türkiye in Karachi Cemal Sangu and the head of the Urdu Department at Istanbul University Professor Dr Halil Toker visited the KU and met the KU Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi at the VC Secretariat.
The dean of science Professor Dr Samina Bano, the dean of arts and social sciences Professor Dr Shaista Tabassum, the dean of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences Professor Dr Faiyaz H. M. Vaid, the dean of Islamic Studies Professor Dr Zahid Ali Zahidi, the dean of law Justice (retired) Hasan Feroz, in-charge Students’ Guidance Counseling and Placement Bureau Dr Ghazal Khawaja Hummayun, Foreign Students’ Advisor Dr Shumaila Shafket Ali, Students’ Advisor Dr Syed Asim Ali, Director Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization Professor Dr Bilquees Gul, President Unikarians International Professor Ejaz Ahmed Faruqi and others were also present on this occasion.
According to the MoU, the KU and Ankara-based Yunus Emre Institute, which was established to promote Türkiye, its culture and language, and aimed to develop relations with other countries, would encourage the development of academic, scientific and cultural cooperation through its proposed language and culture center.Türkiye CG Cemal Sangu and Professor Dr Halil Toker briefed the KU administration that the said project would also bring people of both countries closer to each other.
The Türkiye CG in Karachi Cemal Sangu shared that special scholarships are available for Pakistani students and both public and private sector universities would like to have students from every department of the University of Karachi as well as from other higher education institutes of Pakistan. “The establishment of the language and cultural center will help in further boosting friendship relations and mutual understanding between the two brother countries.” He mentioned that in the next step, Turkish universities and the University of Karachi would launch joint workshops, seminars, cooperative research projects, exchange programs for faculty, researchers, administrative staff, and students, joint academic publications, training, and summer schools through Türkiye University’s mission and academic and scientific cooperation project of Türkiye.
He expressed that despite the fact that Pakistan and Türkiye are geographically not closer to each other but in the hearts and minds of every Turk citizen we are very close to each other. Meanwhile, Professor Dr Halil Toker said that this proposed center would educate students about Turkish cultural values, literature, Türkiye history, and other aspects of the modern and old Türkiye.He informed the KU administration that this center would help in removing the language barriers and it would make easy for a Pakistani student and a Turk citizen to communicate easily.
The KU VC Professor Dr Khalid Iraqi termed that with the establishment of a Turkish language and cultural center, our students and faculty would be able to explore more about Türkiye and its rich history. He believed that work on the proposed project would start soon and faculty and students would be able to enroll in the language certificate program in the near future. The KU VC Professor Dr Khalid Iraqi and Professor Dr Halil Toker, on the behalf of the Younus Emre Institute, signed the MoU documents.
