Turkish Schools
Let it be known that many participants at the second Turkish-Eurasian "foreign trade bridge" summit will be there thanks to Turkish schools opened by Turkish philanthropists in the 13 countries joining the summit. The contribution made by the Turkish schools to business life is multileveled and multidimensional.
Some of the summit's participants, and by extension some of the businessmen who are engaged in trade relations with Turkey from the 12 guest countries, will certainly be graduates of these schools. This is the most direct and grassroots level of input. A recent article by the Turkish Zaman daily reported that two successful Kyrgyz businessmen, both graduates of a Turkish school opened in Kyrgyzstan in 1992, decided to market only Turkish products in their operations in four of the central Asian republics. These two young Kyrgyz entrepreneurs are the rule, rather than an exception. Graduates of the Turkish schools, be they from Mongolia or from Russia, gain a gratitude and love of Turkey, and this is by no means at the expense of their dedication to their own nations.
Educated in a culture of peace and tolerance, graduates of these schools realize that cooperation on all levels with Turkey is to the advantage of their own countries. The bridges of love and gratitude fostered in these schools in time turn into a web of bridges between all the countries Turkish schools operate in. A Mongolian businessman, educated in a Turkish school, thus speaking Turkish and English apart from the national languages of Mongolia, will find it easier and more trustworthy to establish contacts with Kazakhs, Russians or Ukrainians educated in the same tradition, with the same number of languages, including the one that passes from heart to heart.
Thanks to student and teacher mobility among these schools, a Tajik student would probably have a Turkmen teacher educated in one of the Turkish schools in Turkmenistan and later graduate from a Turkish university in Anatolia; or at least they will have their teachers serve in different countries prior to theirs and be loaded with memories of a young traveler.
The Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) is the organizer of the Turkish-Eurasian Foreign Trade Bridge. TUSKON President Rizanur Meral is well aware of the contribution made by the Turkish schools. "We are able to find 600 translators for different languages in just a few days. Graduates of the Turkish schools speak at least four different languages," he said in a recent interview. Meral also mentioned the support of the Turkish schools in direct investments by Turkish industrialists in foreign countries. "In our latest business meetings in southern Russia, Kazakhstan and Moscow we realized the importance of these schools. These countries still lack an established free market culture. Thus, foreign trade is being conducted by graduates of these schools who are integrated with the global world both culturally and economically. They are cooperating with Turkish businessmen or working in companies established by Turks there. I can securely call the graduates of the Turkish schools 'trade ambassadors'," he said.
The least noticed but equally important fact is that a bulk of Turkish businessmen that joined the Turkish-Eurasian Foreign Trade Bridge will be there thanks to their engagement with the Turkish schools, either as supporters, as visitors or as businessmen who have heard of their existence and are mobilized by prospects of finding trustworthy guides in the wilderness of foreign languages and alien cultures.
For the supporters of the schools, business contacts are the harvest of a lengthy and painful cultivation. These people, who have answered the calls for establishing educational institutes in post-Soviet countries in a bid to help those countries build their futures, are now running to the same countries as business partners, with a similar zeal and soul.
The Turkish schools, opened all over the world, did not only introduce Turkey to those countries, they also made the host countries a part of Turkish consciousness. Prior to the opening of the Turkish schools, Mongolia, or a hundred other host countries, was a remote country arousing equally remote interest for an average Turkish mind -- if any at all. After the school, it became a country where our relatives live, where we send financial help, from where students come and visit our houses. Multiply this effect by the hundred countries the Turkish schools are opened in and you will understand why Turkey is looking to the future, proud and hopeful; you will understand how Turks began to see the world as their home and how Turkey started to be interested in the remotest parts of the world.
With the Turkish schools as its bridgeheads, the Turkish-Eurasian Foreign Trade Bridge opens the way to a magnificent future. (By Kerim Balci)
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