ANKARA: 12 May 2016: Pakistani students of Middle East Technical University (METU) organized “Pakistan Day” celebrations and showcased rich Pakistani culture through an array of performances. This included folk dances, a medley of Pakistani pop songs, comedy play ‘Harry Potter comes to Pakistan,’ and display of truck art, while guests were served Pakistani cuisine.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to Turkey Sohail Mahmood and Vice Rector of METU Prof. Dr. Nevzat Özgüven were the guests of honour. A large number of Pakistani, Turkish and international students, and faculty members attended the event.
Addressing the participants, Ambassador Sohail Mahmood congratulated the students on organizing “Pakistan Day” celebrations and highlighted growing Pakistan-Turkey cooperation in diverse fields. Referring to cooperation in the education sector, he said efforts were underway for forging collaborative linkages between Pakistani and Turkish Universities through signing of MoUs and for strengthening student and faculty exchanges under the “Mevlana Exchange” Programme.
Expressing satisfaction over the increasing number of Pakistani students in Turkish universities, having crossed over 1400, the Ambassador hoped that more Turkish students would also go for studies in Pakistan as part of growing people-to-people exchanges. He lauded the efforts of Pakistani students for projecting Pakistan’s rich and diverse culture and assured continued support of Pakistan Embassy for such initiatives.
Separately, Pakistani students also actively participated in the annual fair of the Federation of International Students Associations as well as in the International Day organized by Hacettepe University, Ankara.