The “10th International Students Meeting” was held with joy in Samsun as in many other cities.

The “10th International Students Meeting” was held by International Student Association Federation (Uluslararası Öğrenci Dernekleri Federasyonu/UDEF) and Samsun International Student Association at Samsun Cumhuriyet Meydanı (Republic Square).

AK Party Vice President and Samsun Member of Parliament Çiğdem Karaaslan, AK Party Samsun Members of Parliament Orhan Kırcalı and Hasan Basri Kurt, Ondokuz Mayıs University Rector Prof. Dr. Sait Bilgiç, Provincial Police Chief Vedat Yavuz, Public Health Director Dr. Mustafa Kasapoğlu, Credit and Dromitories Institution Samsun Provincial Director İsmail Hakkı Kasapoğlu, OMU Vice Rectors Prof. Dr. Vedat Ceyhan and Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kuran alongside Secretary General Assoc. Prof. Dr. Menderes Kabadayı, international students and a great number of citizens participated in the event.

"Booths of 60 countries were set up"

The event started with the Quran chant and whirling dervish show of international students. International students exhibited traditional dresses and goods mirroring their cultures in the event which hosted 60 booths of different countries. The final of the “10th International Students Meeting”, which can be visited for two days in Samsun, will be held in İstanbul on May 13^th with a great number of participants.

“Students are in our city for educational immigration”

Delivering the opening speech, Samsun International Student Association Head and OMU Secretary General Assoc. Prof. Menderes Kabadayı said “2642 students from 101 countries are receiving education at OMU, as visitors in our country. These brothers and sisters of ours are in our city, so to speak, for educational immigration. We are guiding and aiding these brothers and sisters to adopt the mission history loaded on us. We act with an understanding of a community in order to become, as our reverent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says, ‘One Country, One State, One People, One Flag’, and commune with our brothers and sisters without lingual, religious or racial discrimination”

“Cultural togetherness will yield nice results”

Delivering a speech at the event, OMU Rector Prof. Sait Bilgiç said “These students make up about 5% of the total number of students at OMU. It is about 3% among the total number of international students in Turkey. We want to increase that number. We want to raise our international students’ ratio up to 10%. Here a cultural sharing is in question. Such cultural togetherness will yield very nice results. We are happy to have them among us. We have ongoing studies to provide them more facilities.”

“The message that the world is bigger than 5 resonated in the square”

AK Party Vice President and Samsun Member of Parliament Çiğdem Karaaslan stated that this meeting, where different cultures and different colors came together, was very important as it provided a stronger look into the future. She continued “A very meaningful event with the message it gives not only to Samsun and Turkey but also to the world. OMU is in a key position in terms of international students. OMU has an international identity now. We once again here, in this square observe the message our President gave to the world saying “The world is bigger than 5”.

Protocol members cut the opening ribbon and visited the booths one by one after the speeches.

Story and photography: Gökhan Çetin