Date posted: March 30, 2007

EMİNE KART, AP , ANKARA, LONDON

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül have discussed educational projects that Turkey has been carrying out in Afghanistan, winning the praise of the visiting official, according to information obtained from diplomatic sources.

“As you know, during the Taliban regime, girls were not allowed to attend school. Turkey has opened schools to educate these lost girls. I visited the opening of this school in Kabul, and 1,500 students will receive an education at that school,” Gül said to Beckett, referring to a February visit to the Afghan Girls High School.

Beckett in turn said: “I didn’t know Turkey was playing such an important role in Afghanistan. Your disclosures are very important and show Turkey’s role and importance.” The first Afghan-Turkish school was opened in 1996 in Afghanistan; they now number six.

Gül said Afghanistan’s leader, Hamid Karzai, had demanded more schools from him as he noted that that the Turkish Armed Forces would assume command of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan for a third time.

Source: Excerpted from Today’s Zaman, 28 March 2007

Tags: Afghanistan | Asia | Education | Hizmet-inspired schools |