New Turkish University to Boost Turkey-N. Iraq Ties
Turkey's ties with northern Iraq will be strengthened through a university to be founded by Turkish entrepreneurs in Arbil next year, officials from the school said.
Administrators from Isik College in Arbil told Today's Zaman they would establish a new Turkish university in the city next year and that the project has already received a green light from the regional administration. "At Isik College we have been exerting our utmost to educate Iraqi youths for the past 14 years, a momentum we hope to maintain. We have received the necessary approval from the prime minister of the Kurdish regional administration, Nechervan Barzani, and the minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Iraqi Kurdistan regional government, Idris Hadi Salih, to found a new university in the region," they said.
Salih, paying a visit to Isik College, expressed his satisfaction at seeing Turkish entrepreneurs invest in the field of education in his country.
"I believe that the foundation of a Turkish university in northern Iraq will strengthen ties between the two countries. We support Turkish entrepreneurs in extending the scope of their initiatives in our region. Turkey is an experienced country in the field of education. It will help us to increase the quality of education at our universities," he noted. Underlining that his country has always had strong ties with Turkey, Salih said, "We want to continue to cooperate with Turkey in various domains, including education."
He also noted universities in northern Iraq offer education in English, French and Arabic. "We wish to offer education in Turkish, too, but we don't have Turkish professors at the moment. We want our students to have a good knowledge of Turkish language and culture so that citizens of both countries can get to know one another better. We aim at opening departments of Turkish literature at different universities in our region as soon as we meet the need for Turkish professors," added Salih. (M. Alihan Hasanoglu, Arbil)
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