KABUL (SW) – The Association of Turkish Alumni and Students, in cooperation with the Turkish Education Foundation in Afghanistan and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) in Kabul City, organized a program aimed at expanding bilateral cultural relations and commemorated the 103rd anniversary of the signing of the Turkish-Afghan Alliance Agreement on Thursday.
Cenk Unal, the Turkish ambassador in Kabul, Ahmad Tukur, the Head of the Turkish Education Foundation in Afghanistan, Fazil Akin Erdoğan, the co-ordinator of TİKA, and a number of scholars and students were present in the program.
The Turkish ambassador in Kabul emphasizes the durability of the Turkish-Afghan alliance and says that these countries have a long-standing friendship and even though Afghanistan remained neutral in the First World War، but it allowed the youth to fight in defense of the Ottoman Empire. “The contemporary relations between Afghanistan and Turkey go back to the time of the Ottoman Empire. When the war of independence of Turkey ended and the Republic of Turkey was formed, Afghanistan was the first country to congratulate it,” Unal added.
The participants of the program expressed their satisfaction with Turkey’s activities in the field of education, training, and cultural programs in Afghanistan and demanded the continued cooperation of Turkey in these sectors.
Sana, a student in one of the online educational classes for girls, which was launched by the TİKA office, said: “Turkey has done a lot of activities for women, and recently special classes for women have been organized by the TİKA office in Kabul. It has created human resources departments and language classes for free.”
Fazil Akin Erdoğan, the co-ordinator of TİKA, says that this office is active in various sectors and plans to establish professional guilds for girls and women in Afghanistan in the coming days.
He adds: “TİKA operates in different sectors; we are considering vocational training classes for women and girls in the coming days; because you know that every person who remembers the profession can live comfortably in their country.”
In addition to having close relations with Afghanistan, Turkey has supported the modernization efforts in this country in recent years and has cooperated with Afghanistan in the fields of administrative, military, cultural, educational, and health.
103 years ago on March 1, 1921, the first alliance and cooperation agreement between the government of the Kingdom of Afghanistan led by Amanullah Khan and the Republic of Turkey headed by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was signed between the representatives of the two countries in Russia.
