First Lady Emine Erdogan Visits Pak-Turk Maarif International Schools and Colleges Islamabad.

February 15, 2020

Turkish First Lady Mrs. Emine Erdogan paid a visit to Pak-Turk Maarif International Schools and Colleges Islamabad.  Her excellency was warmly welcomed by Chairman, Mr. Birol Akgün, and Country Director of Turkish Maarif Foundation, Mr. Harun Küçükaladağlı, along with students presenting flowers and souvenirs. She was accompanied by her delegation.

Ceremony started with the holy name of ALLAH Almighty and National anthems of both brotherly countries. To put the ceremony in the next phase, students performed on different music to show the diversity of culture prevailing in Pakistan. Guests and audience were mesmerized with the performances of the students. Open air ceremony was amazingly held in the cherishing voices of students with local music.

Formal start of the ceremony was with welcome speech of Chairman Turkish Maarif Foundation Mr. Prof. Akgun. He thanked for the appearance of distinguished personality as Chief guest Mrs. Emine Erdogan. He shared his views for the contribution of Maarif Foundation in education sector and also assured every possible support for the betterment of this cause.

Later, Chief guest - First Lady Mrs. Emine Erdogan took over the stage and gave us honor with her speech. She thanked for amazingly organizing event in very own premises of Pak-Turk Maarif Islamabad. She recognised and owned the love, friendship, affection and respect for Turkish people in Pakistan and same level of values in Turkey for the people of Pakistan. She believes in exchange of culture, art and traditions prevailing in both countries. 

Throughout the speech her main point was uplifting the education in both countries. She added that Turkey is on top for holding “maximum number of foreign students”. She also shared that by 2023 Turkey has plan to cater 200,000 foreign students for higher studies. But the good news is – Pakistani students are not foreign students for Turkey. As, Turkey is the second home for Pakistanis, this statement earned an astonishing applause from the audience.

Finally students got an outstanding opportunity to interact with the First Lady when she visited classrooms. She also expressed the importance of education for the nation. She is of the view that if education is served at its best then together, we both nations can achieve something outstanding.