Kenyan doctors call Turkey land of opportunities

By Sorwar Alam

ISTANBUL (AA) - Two Kenyan doctors, who graduated from Turkish universities in the early 2000s, described Turkey as a country where foreign students can fulfill their dreams.

“Turkey is a vast ocean of opportunities," said Dr. Zahra Ali, founding president of Green Crescent in Kenya, a non-profit organization which fights addiction.

Ali came to Turkey in 1987 and completed her undergraduate in medicine at Hacettepe University in Ankara.

Sharing that she always dreamed of becoming a doctor, she said: “My dream became a reality in Turkey.”

Ali first heard of Turkey when she was in primary school.

“One of our history classes was about the Ottoman Empire. From then on, I always dreamed to visit Turkey as a tourist. I never thought I will arrive a student," she said.

As a Muslim girl wearing a headscarf, Ali says, she faced many difficulties while studying in Hacettepe University.

- Headscarf ban

"During that time the headscarf was banned. We struggled a lot. It was difficult to enter the school's main gate.

"They told us to put a wig, but I know wearing a wig is forbidden in Islam, so I wore a scarf and put a hat on it. People laughed at us," she said.

Despite this, she said, she made good friends.

She volunteered her services as a doctor when an earthquake hit Turkey's western city of Izmit in 1999, leaving at least 17,000 people dead and 50,000 injured.

Ali was one of the founders of the Doctors World Wide Turkey, a Turkish affiliate of the UK-based Doctors World Wide (DWW) association.

Then she went to Democratic Republic of the Congo as a representative of DWW and ran several projects.

She is also Africa coordinator for Turkish and African Development Agency, an Ankara-based business association.

- 'Turkey to become global leader'

Another Kenyan doctor, Abdi Ibrahim Issa, echoed his countrywoman saying that Turkey was a welcoming country.

Issa, the deputy governor of the Isiolo County Government in the upper eastern region of Kenya, graduated from Istanbul University in 1995.

He said that Turkey had been growing rapidly since 2002 when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power as prime minister.

"I have seen a lot of changes in Turkey. Especially, since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power in 2002. He is a visionary leader. He is a leader who looks ahead. And that’s what is worrying the world. They should not be worried because Turkey is a very welcoming country.

"Actually, I feel proud. I feel that Erdogan is our president. We [the Kenyans] follow him on Twitter. We follow everything he says," he added.

Issa said he expects Turkey to become a global leader in the coming years.

"Actually, this is Turkey’s century. So, we expect Turkey to be a global leader in the next few years. By 2030 Turkey will be second in the world in terms of global leadership."

He added: "I hope to do more [in collaboration] with Turkey, because Turkey is my home. My home is my first country, Kenya comes second."

During his time as a student in Istanbul, Issa reported for BBC Somali and Swahili services. He was deputy head of the Foreign Reporters Association in Turkey and acted in a television advertisement for Turkey's Is Bank.

Issa also met the late President Turgut Ozal at the Cankaya palace in Ankara, which he described as “my most interesting time in Turkey”.

As a Kenyan government official, he thanked Turkey for donating ambulances to his country.

"I hope that the Turkish government will now renew and renovate our hospitals,” he added.