Turkish schools behind Turkey’s soft power in Middle East


Date posted: May 6, 2012

2 May 2012 / MİNHAC ÇELİK, İSTANBUL

Marco Padovan, Italian businessman and a member of the Turkish-Italian Trade and Cooperation Association, said during a round table meeting held in İstanbul on Wednesday that Turkish schools play a crucial role in the increase of Turkey’s soft power in the Middle East and North Africa.

Speaking during the round table meeting titled “Turkey’s Soft Power in the Middle East: Possibilities and Limits,” which was hosted by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), Padovan pointed to the importance of the private Turkish schools that have been established around the world.

During the meeting, which was attended by many prominent Turkish and Italian academics and journalists, Padovan said Turkey’s increasing soft power in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa is a positive outcome of private Turkish schools.

Padovan went on to say that Turkey’s soft power has played a crucial role in the growing economic strength of Turkey in recent years, adding that private Turkish schools serving the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa and their Turkish-speaking graduates have also played a crucial role in the growing influence of the Turkish economy in foreign markets. Explaining that the number of private Turkish schools had outpaced the number of Italian school around the world, Padovan said that while there are 170 Italian schools in various countries worldwide, the number of Turkish schools globally is well over 1,000.

Nurşin Günay Ateşoğlu, a professor at Yıldız Technical University who also spoke at the meeting, offered an opinion on the reason behind Turkey’s recently growing economic and diplomatic power in the region. Ateşoğlu said it is not only because of Turkey’s growing strength, but also because of other countries’ shortcomings in the region.

Carola Cerami, an academic from the University of Pavia, said the European Union has lost its power in the Middle East in recent years but can regain this power by leveraging Turkey’s influence in the region. She also added that blocking Turkey’s membership in the EU is not mutually useful for Turkey or the EU.

Adriana Cerretelli, a journalist from Italy, pointed to the reasons why some EU member countries are trying to block Turkey’s EU accession. He said neither the shortcomings of Turkey’s democracy nor its huge population worry these countries; the real concern is Turkey’s growing power.

Source: Today’s Zaman http://www.todayszaman.com/news-279231-turkish-schools-behind-turkeys-soft-power-in-middle-east.html


Related News

The Gülen movement: advocators of interfaith activities in Turkey

To cover up the [corruption] investigations, the newspapers close to the government use many derogatory labels for the movement, such as “promoters of light or moderate Islam,” “the protestantization of Islam,” “collaborators and allies of foreign intelligence agencies,” and “Christian missionaries under an Islamic guise.”

Fethullah Gulen’s response to ‘coup’ accusations

This is how Fethullah Gulen has responded to ‘the coup’ accusations.

Journalist and Writers Foundation welcomes EP’s transparency calls to Hizmet movement

Most recently, on Dec. 30, 2013, the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), whose honorary president is Mr. Fethullah Gülen, issued a press release calling on those making allegations about the Hizmet movement to provide evidence to prove their claims without delay.

Now it is time to answer

All Cemaat did was to oppose to the closing of test-preparation centers… The corruption investigation that erupted after, is billed to Cemaat by the PM himself.

The Fountain 100th Issue Essay Contest

With its 100th issue, The Fountain invites you to join us in our celebration. Write in an essay a projection of yourself on your 100th birthday. What would you say to yourself at that age? What would your 100-year-old self tell you back? Would it be a conversation of praise and/or regret? Praise for achievements in your career, but regrets for a destroyed family? Warnings for the mistakes you did in your projected future or you will do in your past; pitfalls you happened to be dragged into, temptations you could not resist; or celebrations for the good character you were able to display and sustain a whole life, a precious life wasted or a life lived as it was meant to be.

Questions we dare not ask: Gülen and the coup

Gareth Jenkins once criticized Turkey’s infamous Ergenekon indictments on the grounds that they were “products of ‘projective’ rather than deductive reasoning, working backwards from the premise that the organization exists to weave unrelated individuals, statements and acts into a single massive conspiracy.” Other than being a far more extreme example of “projective” rather than “deductive” reasoning, how is the Turkish government and its media’s attempt at connecting Turkey’s failed coup with Fethullah Gülen and the Hizmet movement he inspires any different?

Latest News

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Kosovo PM to Turkey’s Erdogan: ‘We Mind Our Own Affairs’

ALDE’s Watson says illiberal state leads to unjust action against Gülen followers

Alliance for Shared Values Deplores Paris Shootings

Kimse Yok Mu reaches out to tribe in Panama

[Alleged] “Coup leader” Gülen’s friendships with the Catholic Church

Kimse Yok Mu conducts cataract surgeries in Nepal

Concluding statement of the International panel on Mary announced

Copyright 2024 Hizmet News