March 18, 2013

Turkish interest in Africa

The daily Star columnist Ahmet Kaplan’s notes from his South Africa trip organized by Yamanlar Educational Institutions, Izmir

Turkish Businessmen’s Africa initiatives

Under the leadership of TUSKON, Turkish businessmen have set out to form commercial contacts in Africa since a long time ago. In Cape Town part of the business trip by various businessmen associations including ANKISAD, the meeting organized by South Africa Development Agency, Cape Town Chamber of Commerce and SATBA (South Africa Turkish Businessmen Association) attracted a considerable number of participants. South Africa Minister of Public Works, Geoff Doidge also attended the event. The minister highlighted the significance they attach to the two countries’ relations in his statement to the Turkish press. Indicating their willingness to strengthen the existing positive relations even more Doidge said “We and our Turkish counterparts alike have a duty to enhance the relations. South Africa offers big opportunities to Turks who are already carrying out admirable activities here. We have to develop, in particular, agricultural businesses between the two countries. We surely have to go further beyond taking action in the fields of textile, cold storage equipment, and kitchenware and auto spare parts too. We now lean towards Turkey most as we have achieved strong relations in education lately. As a minister of this nation, I have been making every effort to improve Turkish-African relations.”

Turkish businessmen departed from Cape Town fully satisfied with the interactions made throughout the meeting. They signed bilateral agreements concerning prospective partnerships in citrus, auto spare parts, construction equipment, textile and packaging industry. They revealed that they have formed important contacts and similar business trips will follow in the future.

Turkish School in Cape Town

Our last visit before leaving Cape Town was to a Turkish school in the region. It was impossible not to be moved by the scene that the school established by selfless work of volunteers of education miles away from their country.

Muslims form 50% of the students attending Star International School established in 1999, while the remaining belongs to non-Muslims. The school has achieved high scores in nation-wide contests. For example, the champion of 2009 nationwide metric contest is from this school which currently is currently populated by 408 students. The school is organizing annual Math contests. A black, Turkish school student got a place in a national math contest for the first time in the country’s history. Similarly, another affiliated Turkish school in Durban was rated the best school across South Africa. The Turkish schools gained recognition around Cape Town with their achievements in a very short period of time. The school administration having decided to expand the school is now working on a three-storey school project on about 18,000 m2 and to be completed by 2015. The state’s ministry of education is fully supporting establishment of the schools. The school’s general manager Celal Caglak and Principal Mahmut Ozer, miles away from their country, are working selflessly to make this project happen.

Selimiye Mosque in Johannesburg

Nizamiye Mosque, South Africa
The Nizamiye Mosque -
(Photo: Madelene Cronjé)
Our last stop was Johannesburg which is the largest city of the country with its population of over four million. Following the discovery and exploitation of gold mines, the city thrived but- just like other regions where an unequal prosperity exists- the whites hold the control over the mines. The soil dug out of the mines have formed little mounts around the city where two million is reported to be living in shanties.


What is most worth mentioning here is a mosque and its complex built by a Turkish philanthropist entrepreneur Ali Katircioglu. It is not fair to call the work only a mosque, which is indeed a replica of Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, Turkey. It is practically a masterpiece of architecture. Ali Katircioglu, who shortly came to be called as “Uncle Ali”, covered the entire expenses of the mosque by himself. President Zuma, who refers to the mosque as an exemplary work on any occasion, attended the opening ceremony in October, 2012. Tourists come especially to see the worth seeing complex comprising clinics, a religious school, an art gallery and a kitchen with 200 capacity and many more facilities.

Following a city tour of Pretoria 44 miles away from Johannesburg, we visited Moonlight Turkish School there. The principal Zafer Soyertas hosted us warmly at the school home to 120 black and white students. Launched in January 2012, the school will admit 220 students selected through an entrance exam for the upcoming semester. Economically disadvantaged but promising students are provided scholarships. The school, starting from kindergarten to high school and popular among diplomat parents, has students also from Brazil, Greece, Lebanon, Mozambique, Malawi and Cameroun.

Excerpted from the daily Star article [in Turkish], 14 March 2013, Thursday

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