The Turkish School in Kathmandu made a dream come true

Zaman

Ahmet Davutoglu the first Turkish foreign secretary who went to Nepal visited Meridian Turkish School. Davutoglu addressed to the students in Turkish school and said that: "My first visit to Nepal was in 1993. If someone had told me that a Turkish school would be opened in Kathmandu, the students in that school would learn to speak Turkish and would sing Turkish songs, I would think that it would be only a dream. But now I see that these devoted Turkish teachers realized that dream and I'd like to thank to all of the teachers”.

 Davutoglu at the Turkish School in Kathmandu

Davutoglu stated that these students who could speak both Turkish and Nepali would build a bridge between Turkey and Nepal. He said he wanted to see the students in Turkey and added: "Turkey is your home and the students in Turkey are your sisters and brothers. I am the first but not last Turkish foreign secretary to visit Nepal. Turkish educators came to Nepal before us. I really am very grateful to them.

Ferhat Dogutekin, the coordinator of Turkish schools in Kathmandu, said: "We opened the first Turkish school in 2002 with 100 students. Today, we have 1200 students and take 10th place out of 700 private schools in Kathmandu in academic success”. People here suggested us to give up when we were trying to open the school, he added.

Davutoglu had meetings with the president Ram Baran Yadav, prime minister Jhala Nath Khanal and deputy prime minister and finance minister Bharat Mohan Adhikary. They told Davutoglu that they wanted to follow up Turkey's experiences in economic improvement and keeping stability.

IDC members translated this article, published on Zaman (in Turkish) on 18 February 2011, Friday.