Minister Özer expressed his condolences for Somalian people who lost their lives during the terror attacks in October and November in Somali and said that Somalia people have a special place in the hearts of Turkish nation.

 

Özer also expressed his happiness about the gradually increasing cooperation between Türkiye and Somali although the relationship between two countries does not have a deep-rooted history adding that, "Especially in recent years, relations between two countries in terms of politics and education gained a momentum. High level contacts and visits attended by our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a contribution to the reinforcement of ties between our countries."

 

Özer went on to say that: "These contracts and agreements signed between two countries paved the way for signing the "Cooperation Agreement in Education" in 2016, the "Mutual Understanding for Cooperation in Higher Education" in 2017 and the "Cultural Exchange Program" in 2018. These agreements include many dimensions and different levels of education varying from vocational education to digitalization in education. These agreements laid the foundation of experience exchange about our education systems."

 

Özer reminded that as of the end of 2022, 291 Somali students continued their education in Türkiye, 22 of them are enrolled in the international imam-hatip high schools and added that they will be happy to enroll students from Somali in the international vocation and technical Anatolia high schools.

 

Noting that the Türkiye Maarif Foundation has been giving education to total of 1.026 students in seven schools in three campuses in Somali, Özer reminded that schools that have ties with FETÖ was transferred to the Republic of Türkiye after June 15 coup attempt and the Türkiye Maarif Foundation has been giving quality education to students in these schools.

 

Minister Özer noted that he had the opportunity to meet Somali President Mahmud in June and shared the transformation of education achieved in Türkiye.

 

Minister Özer expressed his happiness about the meeting and added that they will be happy to share Türkiye's experience in education with Somali.

 

Meanwhile, Somalia Minister Farah Abdulkadir Mohamed expressed his happiness to visit Türkiye and hope that cooperation between the two countries will continue to grow. He also thanked Minister Özer for hosting him.

 

Minister Mahmut Özer gave the book he wrote and titled, "The Universalization Of Education In Türkiye And New Orientations" to his counterpart Mohamed as a present at the end of the meeting.