Daily Times

ANKARA: Turkey has opened doors for graduate and postgraduate scholarships for Pakistani students to get education in its universities and hoped that they can become an important bridge for further promoting its relations with Pakistan at people to people level.

As many as 5,000 scholarships are being offered under a plan put in place for Asia Pacific countries by presidency for Turks abroad and related communities (YTB) under which all expenses including tickets, tuition fee and boarding are paid by the Turkish government, YTB President Prof Kudret Bulbul said Tuesday.

He said that at least 6,500 Pakistani students have applied for Turkish scholarships adding that majority of Pakistani students had been heading for Western universities.

He said the students applying for graduate and postgraduate and even Phd scholarships should not be Turkish nationals and they will have to return to their countries on completion of their study. The students can apply on line for the highly competitive scholarships as this year 100,000 students from at least 180 countries applied to get education in various subjects like medical engineering and other social sciences, he added.

Prof Kudret said that when they will go back, they would be a bridge and envoys for Turkey for forging relations with their respective countries in Asia and Pacific region.

The YTB is concentrating on empowerment of affairs related to historical and cultural relations and to improve economic and political relations through connecting people to people and intellectual level with countries across the globe.

Prof Kudret said Turkey is ready to work with the universities in concerned countries and education departments for supporting their projects and these scholarships are only one part of the plan. He said, “He is mulling over to organise a meeting of the think tanks in Asia-Pacific, African and Middle Eastern countries to have interaction on the issues of mutual concern”.

He said Turkey had allocated 100 seats as a special case for them in 2014 but their number could increase in future. Turkey is welcoming three million Syrian refugees as a result of an on-going conflict in Syria who are being kept in Eastern Turkey bordering Syria, he added.

He further said that the refugee crisis has put an immense financial burden on Turkish resources and it required $10 billion for the upkeep of this huge number of Syrian refugees.

Meanwhile, World Humanitarian Summit is scheduled to be held in Istanbul from May 23-24, which would spotlight Syrian refugee crisis and its implications for the region and the world, he added.